After they came from behind to defeat the Detroit Lions on Sunday, the Buffalo Bills complained that a fan had attempted to distract them on certain plays through use of a laser pointer. Bills coach Doug Marrone, quarterback Kyle Orton and kicker Dan Carpenter all claimed to have seen the laser. It looks like it did in fact happen.
Believe it or not, a fan bragged after the game about shining the laser in players’ eyes. The tweets came from the handle @MarkoBeslach, which is an account that has since been deactivated.
Found him! @nfl @ESPNNFL @nflcommish @buffalobills Ban him from all sporting events! @MarkoBeslach pic.twitter.com/26yJC8Pzy6
— Mark K (@DJMarkyMark9) October 6, 2014
Carpenter says the fan shined the laser into holder Colton Schmidt’s eyes during a missed 50-yard field goal attempt in the third quarter.
“It was shining on Colton on the hold,” Carpenter said, per Justin Rogers of MLive.com. “As far as that goes, I understand the NFL security is looking into it to see if they can figure anything out.”
The video below, which UPROXX passed along, appears to show something flashing on Schmidt’s leg just before the 50-yard attempt.
The Lions released a statement on Sunday night addressing the incident.
“We are aware of the reports from today’s game involving the use of a laser, and we have been in contact with NFL security regarding this issue. Lasers are a prohibited item at Ford Field. While Ford Field security was unable to identify anyone using a laser at today’s game, any future occurrence will be dealt with accordingly.”
You can’t really blame Lions stadium security. Laser pointers are usually pocket-sized, and it would be difficult to figure out where the tiny dot was coming from in a sea of thousands of people. But if they can somehow identify the fan who bragged about it on Twitter, he should be banned from Ford Field for life.
