Further nuclear fallout erupted tonight as ESPN’s Outside the Lines dropped another bomb not only on Roger Goodell and the NFL but the Baltimore Ravens to the extent that jobs could be lost very soon. According to the OTL report, Ravens head of the security Darren Sanders was apparently made known of an incident between Rice and his fiancée within hours of it taking place. Sanders was notified by an Atlantic City police officer who apparently described the incident in very good detail which of course when you connect the dots with the other video you’d further know what happened in the elevator was very bad to say the least.
But from there things get even more damning…
Remember when Rice’s attorney Michael J. Diamondstein tried to corroborate a story that his client was acting in self-defense? Well… Diamondstein was apparently the one who notified Ravens president Dick Cass that the video was ‘horrible’ and that he (Rice) knocked Janay ‘the f*ck out’. From there John Harbaugh and director of player personnel George Kokinis wanted Rice’s ass off the team however it was Cass, GM Ozzie Newsome and owner Steve Bisciotti that decided to overrule what you’d think is a pretty easy decision.
But after Ravens offensive lineman Jah Reid was arrested March 8 in Key West, Florida, and charged with two counts of battery for his role in a bar fight, Harbaugh, according to several sources, again went to Newsome and advocated that the three Ravens players arrested in the offseason — Rice, Reid and wide receiver Deonte Thompson — be released. Newsome, according to what Rice was told, bristled at the recommendation, saying he was the decision-maker in the matter, not Harbaugh, and he believed in second chances. Newsome believed if the team had weathered the controversy in 2000 when All-Pro linebacker Ray Lewis was charged in a double homicide after a Super Bowl party in Atlanta, and had endured the criticism after running back Jamal Lewis’ guilty plea to cocaine trafficking in 2004, it could certainly weather the controversy surrounding this trio of arrests, too.
But the pandering for Rice from the Ravens’ high-ups didn’t stop there. Cass, Newsome and Bisciotti accompanied Rice to New York in a one-on-one with Goodell even speaking on his (Rice’s ) behalf just in case Goodell saw that second video and somehow caught Rice with his pants down figuratively speaking.
With his wife sitting by his side in a conference room, Rice told Goodell that he hit her and knocked her out, according to four sources. Cass and Newsome spoke on Rice’s behalf. So did Janay, who emotionally asked Goodell not to impose a penalty on Rice that would take away their livelihood and besmirch his name.
And from there is where it gets even more corrupted and corroborated by Bisciotti as he promises Rice a front office job with the Ravens once things seemingly blow over (via The Big Lead):
Hey Ray, just want to let you know, we loved you as a player, it was great having you here. Hopefully all these things are going to die down. I wish the best for you and Janay. When you’re done with football, I’d like you to know you have a job waiting for you with the Ravens helping young guys getting acclimated to the league.
Of course too this all comes after not only the NFL and Goodell but Bisciotti led the public to believe that Rice misled them during sit down meetings regarding the Atlantic City elevator incident. Not that we already didn’t know the NFL and Ravens probably saw the second video before TMZ released it to the World… again though this latest news just makes everything more damning.
h/t: The Big Lead, CBS Sports (picture), ESPN
