Ravens Owner Says Rice Leaked Info To ESPN for Investigation

By now, if you are following the ongoing saga of the NFL and Ray Rice, you are probably aware of a story released by ESPN's Outside the Lines saying the Ravens knew everything and tried help hide the existence of the damning "elevator" video.

In case you haven't read it, you can read the Don Van Natta and Kevin Van Valkenburg investigation RIGHT HERE

Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti came out firing, accusing Rice, his friends and his defense team of leaking information, trying to help build a case for Rice to return to football at some point in time.

He also publicly apologized for not following through and trying to look at the video inside the elevator at the New Jersey Casino. He admitted he was wrong and and wishes he could do it over again.

Bisciotti simultaneously released a letter to the Ravens fan base which is posted on their website: (A brief summary)

--Bisciotti reiterates this: "As I stated to you in my letter on September 9th, we did not do all we should have done and no amount of explanation can remedy that. But there has been no misdirection or misinformation by the Ravens"

--A statement by Ravens head of security Darren Sanders who is been alleged to have seen or informed of the inside the elevator video shortly after Ray Rice punched Janay Rice in the elevator:

“I did not receive an account of what happened in the elevator “within hours” of the incident.  Within a couple of days, I asked the casino and the Atlantic City Police Department for a copy of any videotape of the incident.  They said they could not release a copy of the videotape to me.  Some days later—I believe it was on February 25—I spoke to an Atlantic City police official again, asking again whether I could get a copy of the tape or, if not, whether I could come to his New Jersey office and view it. He said I could not, but he did offer to view the tape and describe what he saw."

---A statement by team G.M Ozzie Newsome who is alleged to have been told exactly what happened by Rice.

“I did not receive an account of what happened in the elevator “within hours” of the incident.  Within a couple of days, I asked the casino and the Atlantic City Police Department for a copy of any videotape of the incident.  They said they could not release a copy of the videotape to me.  Some days later—I believe it was on February 25—I spoke to an Atlantic City police official again, asking again whether I could get a copy of the tape or, if not, whether I could come to his New Jersey office and view it. He said I could not, but he did offer to view the tape and describe what he 
saw. "

--And then this, countering the allegation Bisciotti offered Rice a job after releasing him. And that the offer was made for "hush" money:

“I did not receive an account of what happened in the elevator “within hours” of the incident.  Within a couple of days, I asked the casino and the Atlantic City Police Department for a copy of any videotape of the incident.  They said they could not release a copy of the videotape to me.  Some days later—I believe it was on February 25—I spoke to an Atlantic City police official again, asking again whether I could get a copy of the tape or, if not, whether I could come to his New Jersey office and view it. He said I could not, but he did offer to view the tape and describe what he saw. "

You can read the entire statement countering all points of the article RIGHT HERE

Bisciotti spent a good portion of the time talking about his surprise the NFL did not know about the video and not thinking to ask Rice's lawyer, who DID have the tape, to see it.

He also got emotional denying that he lobbied NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for a shorter suspension for Rice initially saying, "Why would I do that?" "I played golf with the commissioner but nobody has ever accused us of being friends" "I expected a 4-6 game suspension for Ray, not 2"

Another strong statement: The NFL has never escalated domestic violence to the level of bar fights and drugs. And to be honest, he's right. He's done a strong job of stating the NFL's weakness, inequity and lack of a strong discipline policy. He also said this is a great opportunity for the league and for Goodell to take the lead and change and elevate the response to domestic violence.

To his credit, Bisciotti was quite a bit more open and emotional than NFL commissioner Roger Goodell when talking about the issue. He did not hide behind vagueness, he was upset he and his team's integrity was being questioned. And his team came prepared to repute every aspect of ESPN's report.

We suspect the truth in this matter, like most, lies somewhere between these two stories. But props to Bisciotti and the Ravens team for being prepared and able to explain every accusation.

We hope to god this is the end of the lengthy press conferences about this subject. It happened. It was horrible. A lot of people made a lot of mistakes. Let's find out who did and when the time is right, release the information.

But until then, we are ready for the Sports world to move on.

ESPN Eviscerates Ravens and NFL's Ray Rice Explanation

((ht: espn.com))

Oh boy! Nothing like dropping a bombshell on a Friday night. But man, if you are following the saga of the NFL, Baltimore Ravens and how they handled the Ray Rice incident, this is huge.

ESPN's Outside the Line produced a detailed report that went into great behind the scenes detail to explain what the Baltimore Ravens and the NFL may or may not have known while investigating now former Raven Ray Rice.

You can read their fantastically detailed report RIGHT HERE

Yeah...

The report cites multiple sources who say the Ravens knew quite a bit more about what happened than they let on. But they gave Rice the benefit of the doubt because of the good deeds he'd done for them.

But it also details Rice's lawyer seeing the videotape long before it was made public and making the team aware of it. In fact, they apparently knew just hours after the February incident, exactly what happened. Which DIRECTLY contradicts what team owner Steve Bisciotti has gone on the record saying.

It also speaks about Ravens coach John Harbaugh wanting Rice gone immediately after hearing about what happened. Harbaugh was overruled by team president Dick Cass and G.M Ozzie Newsome. Harbaugh apparently tried again when two other players got in trouble to cut those two along with Rice. Again he was overruled. This all happened before the video became public.

Essentially, the report calls the Ravens liars.

And Roger Goodell along with his investigators are not spared. While not saying Goodell himself actually saw the video, the NFL itself was apparently well aware of what happened. The report does portray Goodell as regretting his decision early in the process, but he eventually bowed to pressure from the Ravens to do them a favor.

Again, you REALLY need to watch this report. If you thought highly of the NFL and their credibility before, this should end it. Of course the Jolly Roger's press conference on Friday didn't help things much either.

Here's your video story from ESPN.com:

Family: Brandon Marshall Abused Daughter and Not Investigated by NFL

We aren't quite sure what to make of this.

In light of the NFL's worst week ever and the domestic abuse problems that Ray Rice and others have shown on the league, there may be more.

The family of Rasheedah Watley came forward with noted lawyer Gloria Allred in Atlanta Wednesday afternoon charging Roger Goodell, the NFL and the Denver Broncos (team at the time) essentially let receiver Brandon Marshall off easy after a long history of abusing Watley. He also spoke about a letter he sent to the NFL and how they essentially did not respond to him.

Along with the family, a friend Kristeena Spivey came out and spoke of an incident in 2009 where Marshall is alleged to have rammed her car and threw a concrete brick through the windshield. Marshall had initially been suspended for 3 games, that suspension was reduced to 1 game.

Watley's father Clarence spoke at length about the history between his daughter and Marshall dating back to Marshall's time at UCF in 2006 and supposedly dating back as far as the 8th grade.

Pro Football Talk reminds us what happened in 2009 RIGHT HERE

It should be noted, in 2009, Watley and Marshall's lawyers exchanged e-mails asking for 6-figures to make this all go away and not press charges.

The whole sordid affair was part of an ESPN Outside the Lines episode back in 2009.



For her part, Allred and Watley's father are calling for Roger Goodell's head. For which they can add their names to the list. The question that many people have today though is: Why bring this up now?

Is it the timing?

We don't dispute that Marshall may have done some horrible things and deserved to be punished more effectively 5-years ago. But he wasn't. And Allred and the Watley's may have a legitimate beef here, we don't doubt that either. If Marshall did what he was alleged to do at that time, he most definitely deserved a stiffer penalty. And yeah, more than likely, the NFL didn't handle it well. It's now been documented as to how bad they've handled domestic violence cases in the past.

But why bring it up now?

There have been multiple opportunities to discuss this, to bring it up in the open over the years, before and after this incident took place. And it wasn't. Unfortunately, while a horrible issue that should have been addressed at the time wasn't, bringing it up TODAY smacks of opportunism.

Allred says it's about what the NFL should do in the future.

There are no charges filed here and there are no investigations involved. So why are we now talking about this today? It smells an awful lot like the set-up to a lawsuit.

Here's the latest from the presser
((HT: MyFoxAtlanta))
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