A Buffalo Bills fan has accused Bobby McCain of spitting on him and threatening to spit on a 13-year-old after the Bills' 31-21 win against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. A day later, Brian Flores said the Dolphins are disciplining the safety "internally."
The incident, which The Buffalo News reported Monday, was brought up to Flores at the coach's press conference Monday at the Miami Dolphins Training Facility and Flores said he spoke with McCain earlier in the day.
"He and I have a pretty open dialogue," Flores said in Davie. "I heard his side of the story and it's unfortunate. I feel like he needed to handle that situation better. We're going to discipline Bobby for that. We'll handle that discipline internally, but situations like this _ we've got to handle those situations and I would say, before I say that, we take those very seriously. There's a standard that we're trying to set here of professionalism, of the way we go about things. We need to live up to that standard and we're going to, so I talked to Bobby and, again, I heard his side of the story, but we need to handle situations better really on the field."
Dylan Wentland, a season ticket holder at New Era Field, said McCain first threatened to spit on a 13-year-old boy after the boy shouted, "You're irrelevant," at Miami players as they exited the tunnel and took the field in Orchard Park, New York. Wentland told The Buffalo News he called out McCain, then didn't interact with the defensive back at all throughout the course of the game. After the game, Wentland said, McCain sought him out and spit on Wentland's face.
"Literally wound up, hocked and just spit right in my face while I'm standing there," Wentland told The News.
The Erie County Sheriff's Office is aware of the incident, The News reported, and is following up with the Bills and the NFL. Wentland's telling of the incident is corroborated by other fans in the vicinity, although none of the 140 deputies from the Sheriff's Office who staff games witnessed it.
Flores didn't delve into any specifics about McCain's side of the story or a potential punishment. When asked whether a punishment could entail McCain missing playing time, Flores reiterated his plans to deliver punishment internally.
"Again," he said, "that's going to be handled internally."
