Matt Lauer had to miss work due to an incident involving a deer while he was on his bicycle over the weekend.

People reports that his co-host Meredith Vieira announced his absence was due to an encounter with a deer -- although it was not clear if the two actually collided.

"[Matt] "thinks the deer was hired by the competition," she joked. "I hired the deer, but I said, 'Just graze him.' "