In what is just another twist in an already astonishing story, ESPN’s Outside the Lines is reporting that the Baltimore Ravens knew all along that the videotape of the Ray Rice incident existed and exactly what was on it. According to the report, Baltimore Ravens’ director of security, Darren Sanders received detailed play-by-play of the videotape from an Atlantic City Police Officer just hours after the incident.
According to ESPN Sanders would share the info with his bosses in the Ravens front office, who would go on to ignore the report until information about the assault became public knowledge. Ravens Management would also work closely with Rice’s attorney to try and keep the tape a secret, denied John Harbaugh’s initial request to cut Rice, lobbied police and prosecutors to be lenient; and lobbied Roger Goodell to cap Rice’s suspension at two games.
As most have already seen in the infamous TMZ released video, Ray Rice can be seen beating his wife up and then dragging her out of the elevator. What we didn’t know is that the Ravens knew so much about what was on the tape and still didn’t act seven months ago.
While, it probably would have looked strange if a player got banned for no reason; we must ask if this was the right thing to do from the standpoint of Ravens management? While Rice has been the team’s star running back for a number of years, it would have been very strange to see the team come down with a harsh punishment and not know why. Still, one must ask how could they live with themselves knowing what he had done and fully planning to put him on the field every Sunday. This was of course their plan before the videos became public.
Then on the day that TMZ released the video, they cut Rice, and severed all ties with the back. So sure, the team has done the right thing, but now we learn they did it for all the wrong reasons
The Ravens were perfectly content to have Rice play a starring role on the team, when only the police and management (and possibly the NFL head office, we don’t know) knew what was on the tape. They were perfectly willing to have an abuser on the field, but once the public knew he was an abuser, it became too much and Rice had to go.
One really has to question the Ravens and their reasons for acting here.
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