Head coach Sean McDermott and GM Brandon Beane made it clear from the start that there will be a new standard of expectations at One Bills Drive. There would be a process that would be respected and followed to build the team in a way the leads to sustained success. On Saturday, Beane and McDermott delivered a clear message that anything other than that kind of commitment would be unacceptable as they sent Marcell Dareus home for violating a team rule prior to their third preseason game in Baltimore.
"Hopefully this is something he'll learn from and everybody will understand the message that Sean and I have expectations," said Beane. "We have standards that everybody has to live by and if you're not [going to], then you're not going to be here."
Beane would not confirm that being sent home would be the end of Dareus' punishment.
"We'll assess this when we get back," he said. "Obviously, this happened today and we sent him home. Sean's got to coach a game. We'll talk more about it back [in Buffalo] and how we'll move forward.
"It's very disappointing. Any player that you have to send home, this is not the norm. This is not what you're looking for. Obviously, a guy with his contract status, you would hope that we would be a better leader than that and hopefully he learns from it and moves on and just be a Buffalo Bill."
Dareus is one of the most talented players on Buffalo's roster and is a key part of the team's defensive front that has been stout against the run in the preseason. But as McDermott said during training camp he and Beane has reiterated, they are trying to build a team, not just accumulate talent.
"Everybody – players, coaches, staff, everybody's got a level of expectation," Beane said. "Sean [McDermott] and I are going to do things the right way."
