A weird day for what is becoming an increasingly weird Bills team began with the team's No. 1 receiver.
Kelvin Benjamin reportedly turned down an offer to run routes for Josh Allen during pregame warmups ahead of Buffalo's eventual loss to the Houston Texans. He finished with two catches for 43 yards on six targets, and had an odd explanation for what transpired before kickoff, calling the report "misinformation."
"The report] was put out thinking this was a big break," Benjamin said, [per ESPN's Mike Rodak. "You put stories out there like that and Twitter pages start to get followers.
"It still wasn't a question of whether 'Do you want to run routes?' and I declined. It was just somebody just trying to take something and run with it and try to get their name out there. Pregame is the player's choice to warm up to get ready for the game."
We're in this era of discrediting reports over acknowledging them, so Benjamin's response shouldn't come as a total surprise. Neither should his lamenting the effect such a report has on the reputation of the media. He also said he was "good" with his warmup when asked by Allen, which is understandable. If you're warm, worked up a little lather and are good to go, you're good to go. Other receivers ended up running routes for Allen.
It's peculiar, though, for a receiver who started the preseason by talking trash about his former quarterback in Carolina, and has since recorded just nine receptions in five games to decline extra reps with a still-green quarterback. There's being "good" to go, and then there's "nah, I'm good."
Some might take it as a lack of a work ethic. Benjamin doesn't hear that noise.
"That's what they gonna believe, man. I can't do nothing about that," Benjamin said. "I can only control what I can control, which is coming in every day, busting my ass and doing what I got to do for this team to win. ... everybody else is clutter. That's noise. I can't feed into that."
Benjamin can't control who's throwing him the ball -- as evidenced by Allen's exit due to injury, Nathan Peterman's insertion and the unfortunate end to Sunday's game -- but he can control their rapport. Contributing to the latter more might quiet the outside noise, even as his on-field struggles continue.
