About a week and a half ago, ESPN reported that Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh wanted to cut Ray Rice from the team immediately following the initial report involving a domestic violence charge in February. However, Harbaugh and his bosses, including owner Steve Bisciotti and general manager Ozzie Newsome, fervently deny that was the case.
When the news hit that Ray Rice had viciously beat his wife Janay back in February, the Ravens stood by his side, although they reportedly had a verbal account of the incident which very accurately described what happened.
However, when the video footage was released showing him hitting her, Rice was released by his team and indefinitely suspended from the league in an attempt to save face.
Now, amid controversy and accusations of cover-ups by both the league and the Ravens, ESPN reported that coach John Harbaugh wanted to cut Rice after seeing the "outside" elevator footage, but was forced to tow the party line by his superiors.
Harbaugh, as well as owner Steve Bisciotti and GM Ozzie Newsome, said that report was false (via TMZ):
"I did not recommend cutting Ray Rice from the team after seeing the first videotape. I was very disturbed by that tape, and I told people that the facts should determine the consequences... When I saw the second videotape, I immediately felt that we needed to release Ray."
The Ravens present a unified front, even now, despite a lot of evidence that they (and likely NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell as well) did everything in their power to keep Rice active even though they knew what he did.
The Ravens flatly denied that Harbaugh wanted to get rid of Rice, according to a statement (via CBS Sports):
"The... 'Outside the Lines' article contains numerous errors, inaccuracies, false assumptions and, perhaps, misunderstandings. The Ravens will address all of these next week in Baltimore after our trip to Cleveland for Sunday's game against the Browns."
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