Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Bills handling 'unfortunate' website blunder internally

BY DAN BEGNOCHE

Following an accidental posting of an unfinished story in their website Tuesday night, the Buffalo Bills will be internally handling the mishap that led to the release of news regarding the health of coach Doug Marrone.

Initially brought to light by our publisher, Nick St. Denis, the website inadvertently made public a partially completed story proclaiming that Doug Marrone has cancer.

The story had not yet been filled in with the details of the cancer, or how serious it was, and it contained spelling errors and a space for Marrone's statement regarding the issue.

Marrone has since made the announcement official, stating he recently had a cancerous mole removed that will require little follow-up and will not impede his coaching abilities.

"During a recent doctor's visit, it was discovered that I had a cancerous mole on my skin, which has since been removed," the statement read. "The only follow-up required is to have my moles checked every three months and that basically is the end of the story. The recent extraction procedure will have no effect on my ability to coach the team moving forward."

The team followed up that announcement with a statement Wednesday, in which the team addressed the botched story post and how it would be handled.

"We are continuing today to discuss the unfortunate situation we experienced last night with our website and will address the matter internally," the team said via Mike Rodak of ESPN.com.

The good news here is that coach Marrone's health seems to be fine and does not look as if it will be an issue. The 49-year-old was hired by the team a little more than a year ago to a four-year contract after spending four years as head coach at Syracuse.

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