Do you believe the NFL did not see the tape of Ray Rice (1 Viewer)

[HughHoney]

Jones is being sued for sexually assault. Should Goodell be investigating this too? The NFL is going to 100x it's payroll to stay on top of all of this.

He's brought this upon himself. He wanted to clean up the league and become judge, jury, and executioner with all matters involving NFL personnel. No other commish wanted to take these matters on as hard as Rog has and now he's seeing just how hard it is to police every scumbag and low life within the NFL.

 

[justinl]

How can anyone say yes?

It's been explained several times and still not refuted.

1. It should be pretty obvious to the NFL that if they are lying they would be caught.

2. The police said they would not release the tape.

3. A dubious casino employee says the NFL didn't ask for it.

How can anyone say no?

Just didn't think anyone was this naive.

Naive? It makes more sense than the giant conspiracy theory most are throwing around. That Mortensen had already reported the sequence of events back in June/July, that he said this morning Rice described the events exactly as they played out to the NFL and the Ravens. What's more realistic, that they are covering up the fact that they did have the video, and now are using Rice as a scapegoat, all the while throwing the book at him? Or that they didn't in fact see the 2nd video, and that it was a 2nd hand account of the events, as Mortensen reported?

 

[Insein]

How can anyone say yes?

It's been explained several times and still not refuted.

1. It should be pretty obvious to the NFL that if they are lying they would be caught.

2. The police said they would not release the tape.

3. A dubious casino employee says the NFL didn't ask for it.

How can anyone say no?

Just didn't think anyone was this naive.

Naive? It makes more sense than the giant conspiracy theory most are throwing around. That Mortensen had already reported the sequence of events back in June/July, that he said this morning Rice described the events exactly as they played out to the NFL and the Ravens. What's more realistic, that they are covering up the fact that they did have the video, and now are using Rice as a scapegoat, all the while throwing the book at him? Or that they didn't in fact see the 2nd video, and that it was a 2nd hand account of the events, as Mortensen reported?

That the entity that is the NFL, that has former law enforcement officials on each team who's sole job is to monitor their players at strip clubs, bars, casinos, burger joints, etc, would somehow

1) not know about a video camera being present in a casino elevator

2) not thinking a video inside an elevator existed when a video outside the elevator did

3) not thinking to ask about a video from the casino owners when an NFL player had an apparent incident there

Is somehow more believable than they saw it and ignored it.

 

[PatsWillWin]

How can anyone say yes?

It's been explained several times and still not refuted.

1. It should be pretty obvious to the NFL that if they are lying they would be caught.

2. The police said they would not release the tape.

3. A dubious casino employee says the NFL didn't ask for it.

How can anyone say no?

Just didn't think anyone was this naive.

Naive? It makes more sense than the giant conspiracy theory most are throwing around. That Mortensen had already reported the sequence of events back in June/July, that he said this morning Rice described the events exactly as they played out to the NFL and the Ravens. What's more realistic, that they are covering up the fact that they did have the video, and now are using Rice as a scapegoat, all the while throwing the book at him? Or that they didn't in fact see the 2nd video, and that it was a 2nd hand account of the events, as Mortensen reported?

That the entity that is the NFL, that has former law enforcement officials on each team who's sole job is to monitor their players at strip clubs, bars, casinos, burger joints, etc, would somehow

1) not know about a video camera being present in a casino elevator

2) not thinking a video inside an elevator existed when a video outside the elevator did

3) not thinking to ask about a video from the casino owners when an NFL player had an apparent incident there

Is somehow more believable than they saw it and ignored it.

I'll start thinking that Goodell saw it when someone can explain to me why he would be motivated to stick his neck out there to give Ray Rice a break, knowing that there was a video out there that would become public at some point and make him look incompetent at best, and borderline pro-wife beater at worst. Goodell gets the most criticism for handing out heavy-handed suspensions, so please enlighten me as to why he decided to risk dragging the shield through the mud like this in order to let a slightly-above average RB on a team nobody cares about an easy sentence after watching him spit on and knock out his fiance?

I'll take gross incompetence over arbitrary change in disciplinary philosophy/not caring about knocking a woman unconscious.

 

[Insein]

How can anyone say yes?

It's been explained several times and still not refuted.

1. It should be pretty obvious to the NFL that if they are lying they would be caught.

2. The police said they would not release the tape.

3. A dubious casino employee says the NFL didn't ask for it.

How can anyone say no?

Just didn't think anyone was this naive.

Naive? It makes more sense than the giant conspiracy theory most are throwing around. That Mortensen had already reported the sequence of events back in June/July, that he said this morning Rice described the events exactly as they played out to the NFL and the Ravens. What's more realistic, that they are covering up the fact that they did have the video, and now are using Rice as a scapegoat, all the while throwing the book at him? Or that they didn't in fact see the 2nd video, and that it was a 2nd hand account of the events, as Mortensen reported?

That the entity that is the NFL, that has former law enforcement officials on each team who's sole job is to monitor their players at strip clubs, bars, casinos, burger joints, etc, would somehow1) not know about a video camera being present in a casino elevator

2) not thinking a video inside an elevator existed when a video outside the elevator did

3) not thinking to ask about a video from the casino owners when an NFL player had an apparent incident there

Is somehow more believable than they saw it and ignored it.

I'll start thinking that Goodell saw it when someone can explain to me why he would be motivated to stick his neck out there to give Ray Rice a break, knowing that there was a video out there that would become public at some point and make him look incompetent at best, and borderline pro-wife beater at worst. Goodell gets the most criticism for handing out heavy-handed suspensions, so please enlighten me as to why he decided to risk dragging the shield through the mud like this in order to let a slightly-above average RB on a team nobody cares about an easy sentence after watching him spit on and knock out his fiance?

I'll take gross incompetence over arbitrary change in disciplinary philosophy/not caring about knocking a woman unconscious.

Like everyone who tries to cover these things up. They figured it wouldn't get out so why make it worse than what it is. If Revel never goes out of business, then he may have been right.

 

[just_want_2_win]

I think Goodell knows he messed up with the 2-game ban and the NFL funneled the tape to TMZ so he would have recourse to ban Rice indefinitely.

 

[PatsWillWin]

How can anyone say yes?

It's been explained several times and still not refuted.

1. It should be pretty obvious to the NFL that if they are lying they would be caught.

2. The police said they would not release the tape.

3. A dubious casino employee says the NFL didn't ask for it.

How can anyone say no?

Just didn't think anyone was this naive.

Naive? It makes more sense than the giant conspiracy theory most are throwing around. That Mortensen had already reported the sequence of events back in June/July, that he said this morning Rice described the events exactly as they played out to the NFL and the Ravens. What's more realistic, that they are covering up the fact that they did have the video, and now are using Rice as a scapegoat, all the while throwing the book at him? Or that they didn't in fact see the 2nd video, and that it was a 2nd hand account of the events, as Mortensen reported?

That the entity that is the NFL, that has former law enforcement officials on each team who's sole job is to monitor their players at strip clubs, bars, casinos, burger joints, etc, would somehow1) not know about a video camera being present in a casino elevator

2) not thinking a video inside an elevator existed when a video outside the elevator did

3) not thinking to ask about a video from the casino owners when an NFL player had an apparent incident there

Is somehow more believable than they saw it and ignored it.

I'll start thinking that Goodell saw it when someone can explain to me why he would be motivated to stick his neck out there to give Ray Rice a break, knowing that there was a video out there that would become public at some point and make him look incompetent at best, and borderline pro-wife beater at worst. Goodell gets the most criticism for handing out heavy-handed suspensions, so please enlighten me as to why he decided to risk dragging the shield through the mud like this in order to let a slightly-above average RB on a team nobody cares about an easy sentence after watching him spit on and knock out his fiance?

I'll take gross incompetence over arbitrary change in disciplinary philosophy/not caring about knocking a woman unconscious.

Like everyone who tries to cover these things up. They figured it wouldn't get out so why make it worse than what it is. If Revel never goes out of business, then he may have been right.

Cover what up? Everyone knew that Ray Rice knocked his fiance unconscious. What are we covering up? The video?

How does giving Ray Rice just a 2 game suspension cover anything up?

 

[PatsWillWin]

I think Goodell knows he messed up with the 2-game ban and the NFL funneled the tape to TMZ so he would have recourse to ban Rice indefinitely.

No you don't.

 

[justinl]

How can anyone say yes?

It's been explained several times and still not refuted.

1. It should be pretty obvious to the NFL that if they are lying they would be caught.

2. The police said they would not release the tape.

3. A dubious casino employee says the NFL didn't ask for it.

How can anyone say no?

Just didn't think anyone was this naive.

Naive? It makes more sense than the giant conspiracy theory most are throwing around. That Mortensen had already reported the sequence of events back in June/July, that he said this morning Rice described the events exactly as they played out to the NFL and the Ravens. What's more realistic, that they are covering up the fact that they did have the video, and now are using Rice as a scapegoat, all the while throwing the book at him? Or that they didn't in fact see the 2nd video, and that it was a 2nd hand account of the events, as Mortensen reported?

That the entity that is the NFL, that has former law enforcement officials on each team who's sole job is to monitor their players at strip clubs, bars, casinos, burger joints, etc, would somehow

1) not know about a video camera being present in a casino elevator

2) not thinking a video inside an elevator existed when a video outside the elevator did

3) not thinking to ask about a video from the casino owners when an NFL player had an apparent incident there

Is somehow more believable than they saw it and ignored it.

I guess I am just inclined to give the NFL the benefit of doubt. You look at the timeline of things, Rice is arrested in Feb. Indicted in March. And comes to a plea agreement in May admits guilt and apologizes. Do you think that between February and May, the NFL was conducting their own investigation? Probably not. They might have been gathering facts, but it's most likely they were seeing how the legal stuff played out. So after all the evidence, was stacked against Ray, after the admission of guilt, after dealing with his charges... he was already guilty of DV. Putting it all together, you kind of expected that Rice hit and knocked his fiancee out. So now some are chastising the NFL for not investigating the matter further. Well the man was guilty. How often do you see an investigation continue after an offender is guilty? The leniency all stems from him being a first time offender. Did anyone really expect the incident not to be violent?

When you put it all together, it's not a big conspiracy. What exactly did they uncover after the 2nd video came out? Nothing.

 

[jurb26]

How can anyone say yes?

It's been explained several times and still not refuted.

1. It should be pretty obvious to the NFL that if they are lying they would be caught.

2. The police said they would not release the tape.

3. A dubious casino employee says the NFL didn't ask for it.

How can anyone say no?

Just didn't think anyone was this naive.

Naive? It makes more sense than the giant conspiracy theory most are throwing around. That Mortensen had already reported the sequence of events back in June/July, that he said this morning Rice described the events exactly as they played out to the NFL and the Ravens. What's more realistic, that they are covering up the fact that they did have the video, and now are using Rice as a scapegoat, all the while throwing the book at him? Or that they didn't in fact see the 2nd video, and that it was a 2nd hand account of the events, as Mortensen reported?

That the entity that is the NFL, that has former law enforcement officials on each team who's sole job is to monitor their players at strip clubs, bars, casinos, burger joints, etc, would somehow1) not know about a video camera being present in a casino elevator

2) not thinking a video inside an elevator existed when a video outside the elevator did

3) not thinking to ask about a video from the casino owners when an NFL player had an apparent incident there

Is somehow more believable than they saw it and ignored it.

I'll start thinking that Goodell saw it when someone can explain to me why he would be motivated to stick his neck out there to give Ray Rice a break, knowing that there was a video out there that would become public at some point and make him look incompetent at best, and borderline pro-wife beater at worst. Goodell gets the most criticism for handing out heavy-handed suspensions, so please enlighten me as to why he decided to risk dragging the shield through the mud like this in order to let a slightly-above average RB on a team nobody cares about an easy sentence after watching him spit on and knock out his fiance?

I'll take gross incompetence over arbitrary change in disciplinary philosophy/not caring about knocking a woman unconscious.

Like everyone who tries to cover these things up. They figured it wouldn't get out so why make it worse than what it is. If Revel never goes out of business, then he may have been right.

Cover what up? Everyone knew that Ray Rice knocked his fiance unconscious. What are we covering up? The video?

How does giving Ray Rice just a 2 game suspension cover anything up?

This isn't that hard to understand. They aren't covering up that they gave Rice a 2 game suspension. They are covering up that they had the video because the public out displays that they feel that punishment is ridiculously lenient in relation to the video. So they are covering up having the video because it makes them look stupid.

 

[jurb26]

How can anyone say yes?

It's been explained several times and still not refuted.

1. It should be pretty obvious to the NFL that if they are lying they would be caught.

2. The police said they would not release the tape.

3. A dubious casino employee says the NFL didn't ask for it.

How can anyone say no?

Just didn't think anyone was this naive.

Naive? It makes more sense than the giant conspiracy theory most are throwing around. That Mortensen had already reported the sequence of events back in June/July, that he said this morning Rice described the events exactly as they played out to the NFL and the Ravens. What's more realistic, that they are covering up the fact that they did have the video, and now are using Rice as a scapegoat, all the while throwing the book at him? Or that they didn't in fact see the 2nd video, and that it was a 2nd hand account of the events, as Mortensen reported?

That the entity that is the NFL, that has former law enforcement officials on each team who's sole job is to monitor their players at strip clubs, bars, casinos, burger joints, etc, would somehow

1) not know about a video camera being present in a casino elevator

2) not thinking a video inside an elevator existed when a video outside the elevator did

3) not thinking to ask about a video from the casino owners when an NFL player had an apparent incident there

Is somehow more believable than they saw it and ignored it.

I guess I am just inclined to give the NFL the benefit of doubt. You look at the timeline of things, Rice is arrested in Feb. Indicted in March. And comes to a plea agreement in May admits guilt and apologizes. Do you think that between February and May, the NFL was conducting their own investigation? Probably not. They might have been gathering facts, but it's most likely they were seeing how the legal stuff played out. So after all the evidence, was stacked against Ray, after the admission of guilt, after dealing with his charges... he was already guilty of DV. Putting it all together, you kind of expected that Rice hit and knocked his fiancee out. So now some are chastising the NFL for not investigating the matter further. Well the man was guilty. How often do you see an investigation continue after an offender is guilty? The leniency all stems from him being a first time offender. Did anyone really expect the incident not to be violent?

When you put it all together, it's not a big conspiracy. What exactly did they uncover after the 2nd video came out? Nothing.

Again, what they discovered when the video surfaced is that people think their punishment was total crap in relation to the crime.

 

[PatsWillWin]

How can anyone say yes?

It's been explained several times and still not refuted.

1. It should be pretty obvious to the NFL that if they are lying they would be caught.

2. The police said they would not release the tape.

3. A dubious casino employee says the NFL didn't ask for it.

How can anyone say no?

Just didn't think anyone was this naive.

Naive? It makes more sense than the giant conspiracy theory most are throwing around. That Mortensen had already reported the sequence of events back in June/July, that he said this morning Rice described the events exactly as they played out to the NFL and the Ravens. What's more realistic, that they are covering up the fact that they did have the video, and now are using Rice as a scapegoat, all the while throwing the book at him? Or that they didn't in fact see the 2nd video, and that it was a 2nd hand account of the events, as Mortensen reported?

That the entity that is the NFL, that has former law enforcement officials on each team who's sole job is to monitor their players at strip clubs, bars, casinos, burger joints, etc, would somehow1) not know about a video camera being present in a casino elevator

2) not thinking a video inside an elevator existed when a video outside the elevator did

3) not thinking to ask about a video from the casino owners when an NFL player had an apparent incident there

Is somehow more believable than they saw it and ignored it.

I'll start thinking that Goodell saw it when someone can explain to me why he would be motivated to stick his neck out there to give Ray Rice a break, knowing that there was a video out there that would become public at some point and make him look incompetent at best, and borderline pro-wife beater at worst. Goodell gets the most criticism for handing out heavy-handed suspensions, so please enlighten me as to why he decided to risk dragging the shield through the mud like this in order to let a slightly-above average RB on a team nobody cares about an easy sentence after watching him spit on and knock out his fiance?

I'll take gross incompetence over arbitrary change in disciplinary philosophy/not caring about knocking a woman unconscious.

Like everyone who tries to cover these things up. They figured it wouldn't get out so why make it worse than what it is. If Revel never goes out of business, then he may have been right.

Cover what up? Everyone knew that Ray Rice knocked his fiance unconscious. What are we covering up? The video?

How does giving Ray Rice just a 2 game suspension cover anything up?

This isn't that hard to understand. They aren't covering up that they gave Rice a 2 game suspension. They are covering up that they had the video because the public out displays that they feel that punishment is ridiculously lenient in relation to the video. So they are covering up having the video because it makes them look stupid.

Okay, then nothing you said answered my question in the first place. It's okay, nobody has managed to answer it.

 

[Tennessee_ATO]

At the risk of offending -- Why the flip is everyone losing their minds after seeing the video? In all seriousness, what did people THINK happened in that elevator? For crying out loud, the guy ADMITTED he punched her in the face. We knew he knocked her unconscious. Look at him. Look at her. What the hell did everyone expect it to have looked like? From my perspective, as bad as it was, it was actually LESS violent looking than my mind's eye had conjured. Seeing the video was irrelevant.

For everyone who needed to see it to believe it really happened, shame on you. This is what domestic violence is, whether it's caught on film or not. This kind of thing happens with frightening regularity in the NFL, but no one has given 2 s$&ts about it until right now. There are guys playing for both Harbaughs right now who have done worse to their girlfriends/wives, but no one cares because they didn't make the mistake of doing it in front of a camera. And no one cares, because they're making money for "The Shield" and entertaining us. We can go straight to denial mode since we don't have to actually see it.

As for the NFL's exposure to the tape, their investigation sounded either incomprehensible incompetent or inexcusably indifferent. Aldolpho Burch is a very sharp legal mind and the son of a former TN Supreme Court Justice, who is also a very sharp legal mind. To think he didn't know how to go about getting that video is absurd. I don't know if they saw it, and I frankly don't think it matters.

As near as I can tell the NFL is actively trying to destroy itself, but can't. There is no worse-run "Big Four" league, but they just happen to have the product we want to consume so it doesn't matter.

 

[KCitons]

Was there any rioting or looting last night as a result of this?

Seems to be the mindset of society these days. Everyone wants full disclosure of what happened and they want all documents released to the public before the ink has dried.

Here's a novel thought. The NFL is business, they owe you nothing. They are free to act however they wish within the guidelines of the law. The NFL itself never committed any crimes in this Rice incident. If you don't like what the NFL has done, quit buying their products.

 

[BassNBrew]

How can anyone say yes?

It's been explained several times and still not refuted.

1. It should be pretty obvious to the NFL that if they are lying they would be caught.

2. The police said they would not release the tape.

3. A dubious casino employee says the NFL didn't ask for it.

How can anyone say no?

Just didn't think anyone was this naive.

Naive? It makes more sense than the giant conspiracy theory most are throwing around. That Mortensen had already reported the sequence of events back in June/July, that he said this morning Rice described the events exactly as they played out to the NFL and the Ravens. What's more realistic, that they are covering up the fact that they did have the video, and now are using Rice as a scapegoat, all the while throwing the book at him? Or that they didn't in fact see the 2nd video, and that it was a 2nd hand account of the events, as Mortensen reported?

That the entity that is the NFL, that has former law enforcement officials on each team who's sole job is to monitor their players at strip clubs, bars, casinos, burger joints, etc, would somehow1) not know about a video camera being present in a casino elevator

2) not thinking a video inside an elevator existed when a video outside the elevator did

3) not thinking to ask about a video from the casino owners when an NFL player had an apparent incident there

Is somehow more believable than they saw it and ignored it.

I'll start thinking that Goodell saw it when someone can explain to me why he would be motivated to stick his neck out there to give Ray Rice a break, knowing that there was a video out there that would become public at some point and make him look incompetent at best, and borderline pro-wife beater at worst. Goodell gets the most criticism for handing out heavy-handed suspensions, so please enlighten me as to why he decided to risk dragging the shield through the mud like this in order to let a slightly-above average RB on a team nobody cares about an easy sentence after watching him spit on and knock out his fiance?

I'll take gross incompetence over arbitrary change in disciplinary philosophy/not caring about knocking a woman unconscious.

Like everyone who tries to cover these things up. They figured it wouldn't get out so why make it worse than what it is. If Revel never goes out of business, then he may have been right.

The lying part you are accusing him of would be coming after it was released. I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt to a guy as smart as Goodell not to lie about something that would be outed in less than 24 hours.

I may be naive but the conspiracy nuts aren't using any common sense.

 

[fatness]

At the risk of offending -- Why the flip is everyone losing their minds after seeing the video? In all seriousness, what did people THINK happened in that elevator? For crying out loud, the guy ADMITTED he punched her in the face. We knew he knocked her unconscious.

Rice told his teammates he was fending off an attack from his fiance. Plenty of message board posters were suggesting that she was at fault, that she attacked him, that she was drunk and fell and hit her head. All those excuses faded away when the video was seen. Now some people seem angry the video was seen, it appears.

 

[Adam Harstad]

Naive? It makes more sense than the giant conspiracy theory most are throwing around. That Mortensen had already reported the sequence of events back in June/July, that he said this morning Rice described the events exactly as they played out to the NFL and the Ravens. What's more realistic, that they are covering up the fact that they did have the video, and now are using Rice as a scapegoat, all the while throwing the book at him? Or that they didn't in fact see the 2nd video, and that it was a 2nd hand account of the events, as Mortensen reported?

Mortensen reported the sequence of events in June/July... based on the words of a source who had seen the video. He never explicitly identified the source as a league source, but I doubt Mortensen has many sources that aren't league or team sources. And if Mortensen, a sports reporter with no real-world connections to speak of, could manage to get that close to the video, how incompetent would the NFL have to be not to?

Also, Peter King wrote in July: "There is one other thing I did not write or refer to, and that is the other videotape the NFL and some Ravens officials have seen, from the security camera inside the elevator at the time of the physical altercation between Rice and his fiancée."

Basically, two months ago every single well-connected reporter worth his salt was saying "Hey guys, lay off the NFL, I know this suspension looks bad but you haven't seen the elevator video and they have so you're not in a position to judge". And today, that story has magically become "Video? What video? Never saw it."

There are two entirely plausible, non-conspiracy theories that explain both positions while assuming that those involved are rational actors. Either the NFL was lying *THEN*, or the NFL is lying *NOW*. And honestly, I would believe either at this point, but the level of detail in Mortensen's report suggests to me it's more likely that they're lying now.

It's a shame that Mortensen or King aren't saying anything more on the subject, other than parroting the NFL party line rather than risking access.

 

[roadkill1292]

Was there any rioting or looting last night as a result of this?

Seems to be the mindset of society these days. Everyone wants full disclosure of what happened and they want all documents released to the public before the ink has dried.

Here's a novel thought. The NFL is business, they owe you nothing. They are free to act however they wish within the guidelines of the law. The NFL itself never committed any crimes in this Rice incident. If you don't like what the NFL has done, quit buying their products.

How bout you? Are you going to quit buying their products? Why or why not?

 

[Adam Harstad]

I may be naive but the conspiracy nuts aren't using any common sense.

If no one affiliated with the NFL had seen the video, why did Peter King report in July that multiple people affiliated with the NFL had seen the video?

It's not a conspiracy. The NFL said one thing in July and another thing today. Either they are lying today, or they were lying in July. You believe they were lying in July. I believe they are lying today. Both positions are rational given the evidence we have. Neither is "nutty".

 

[socrates]

At the risk of offending -- Why the flip is everyone losing their minds after seeing the video? In all seriousness, what did people THINK happened in that elevator? For crying out loud, the guy ADMITTED he punched her in the face. We knew he knocked her unconscious. Look at him. Look at her. What the hell did everyone expect it to have looked like? From my perspective, as bad as it was, it was actually LESS violent looking than my mind's eye had conjured. Seeing the video was irrelevant.

For everyone who needed to see it to believe it really happened, shame on you. This is what domestic violence is, whether it's caught on film or not. This kind of thing happens with frightening regularity in the NFL, but no one has given 2 s$&ts about it until right now. There are guys playing for both Harbaughs right now who have done worse to their girlfriends/wives, but no one cares because they didn't make the mistake of doing it in front of a camera. And no one cares, because they're making money for "The Shield" and entertaining us. We can go straight to denial mode since we don't have to actually see it.

As for the NFL's exposure to the tape, their investigation sounded either incomprehensible incompetent or inexcusably indifferent. Aldolpho Burch is a very sharp legal mind and the son of a former TN Supreme Court Justice, who is also a very sharp legal mind. To think he didn't know how to go about getting that video is absurd. I don't know if they saw it, and I frankly don't think it matters.

As near as I can tell the NFL is actively trying to destroy itself, but can't. There is no worse-run "Big Four" league, but they just happen to have the product we want to consume so it doesn't matter.

 

[socrates]

I may be naive but the conspiracy nuts aren't using any common sense.

If no one affiliated with the NFL had seen the video, why did Peter King report in July that multiple people affiliated with the NFL had seen the video?

It's not a conspiracy. The NFL said one thing in July and another thing today. Either they are lying today, or they were lying in July. You believe they were lying in July. I believe they are lying today. Both positions are rational given the evidence we have. Neither is "nutty".

I am fully confident the NFL saw "the video". However, keep in mind, while we are now seeing this as one video, the video which has now surfaced is actually a compilation of several surveillance cameras. Perhaps what the NFL saw months ago was the video outside of the elevator and not inside.

Either way, the NFL is either lying or botched their investigation. To claim they were unable to obtain the video is not believable.

 

[KCitons]

Was there any rioting or looting last night as a result of this?

Seems to be the mindset of society these days. Everyone wants full disclosure of what happened and they want all documents released to the public before the ink has dried.

Here's a novel thought. The NFL is business, they owe you nothing. They are free to act however they wish within the guidelines of the law. The NFL itself never committed any crimes in this Rice incident. If you don't like what the NFL has done, quit buying their products.

How bout you? Are you going to quit buying their products? Why or why not?

I will keep watching. I don't care what the NFL does or doesn't do to discipline its players. As far as I'm concerned if a player breaks the law, then it's up to the police, the DA, and the jury of his peers to determine his punishment.

In the end, it's a game. I watch the games and play FF football for the enjoyment. When the day comes that I don't enjoy it, I'll stop. But, it won't be because the NFL didn't discipline their players to my standards.

Now, how bout you?

 

[Ignoramus]

Naive? It makes more sense than the giant conspiracy theory most are throwing around. That Mortensen had already reported the sequence of events back in June/July, that he said this morning Rice described the events exactly as they played out to the NFL and the Ravens. What's more realistic, that they are covering up the fact that they did have the video, and now are using Rice as a scapegoat, all the while throwing the book at him? Or that they didn't in fact see the 2nd video, and that it was a 2nd hand account of the events, as Mortensen reported?

Mortensen reported the sequence of events in June/July... based on the words of a source who had seen the video. He never explicitly identified the source as a league source, but I doubt Mortensen has many sources that aren't league or team sources. And if Mortensen, a sports reporter with no real-world connections to speak of, could manage to get that close to the video, how incompetent would the NFL have to be not to?

Also, Peter King wrote in July: "There is one other thing I did not write or refer to, and that is the other videotape the NFL and some Ravens officials have seen, from the security camera inside the elevator at the time of the physical altercation between Rice and his fiancée."

Basically, two months ago every single well-connected reporter worth his salt was saying "Hey guys, lay off the NFL, I know this suspension looks bad but you haven't seen the elevator video and they have so you're not in a position to judge". And today, that story has magically become "Video? What video? Never saw it."

There are two entirely plausible, non-conspiracy theories that explain both positions while assuming that those involved are rational actors. Either the NFL was lying *THEN*, or the NFL is lying *NOW*. And honestly, I would believe either at this point, but the level of detail in Mortensen's report suggests to me it's more likely that they're lying now.

It's a shame that Mortensen or King aren't saying anything more on the subject, other than parroting the NFL party line rather than risking access.

I like how you think you know who Chris Mortensen knows and doesn't know.

 

[roadkill1292]

Was there any rioting or looting last night as a result of this?

Seems to be the mindset of society these days. Everyone wants full disclosure of what happened and they want all documents released to the public before the ink has dried.

Here's a novel thought. The NFL is business, they owe you nothing. They are free to act however they wish within the guidelines of the law. The NFL itself never committed any crimes in this Rice incident. If you don't like what the NFL has done, quit buying their products.

How bout you? Are you going to quit buying their products? Why or why not?

I will keep watching. I don't care what the NFL does or doesn't do to discipline its players. As far as I'm concerned if a player breaks the law, then it's up to the police, the DA, and the jury of his peers to determine his punishment.

In the end, it's a game. I watch the games and play FF football for the enjoyment. When the day comes that I don't enjoy it, I'll stop. But, it won't be because the NFL didn't discipline their players to my standards.

Now, how bout you?

I'd like to (a) improve the game and (b) get it out of the hands of the owners. When that happens, I'll start watching again.

 

[KCitons]

Was there any rioting or looting last night as a result of this?

Seems to be the mindset of society these days. Everyone wants full disclosure of what happened and they want all documents released to the public before the ink has dried.

Here's a novel thought. The NFL is business, they owe you nothing. They are free to act however they wish within the guidelines of the law. The NFL itself never committed any crimes in this Rice incident. If you don't like what the NFL has done, quit buying their products.

How bout you? Are you going to quit buying their products? Why or why not?

I will keep watching. I don't care what the NFL does or doesn't do to discipline its players. As far as I'm concerned if a player breaks the law, then it's up to the police, the DA, and the jury of his peers to determine his punishment.

In the end, it's a game. I watch the games and play FF football for the enjoyment. When the day comes that I don't enjoy it, I'll stop. But, it won't be because the NFL didn't discipline their players to my standards.

Now, how bout you?

I'd like to (a) improve the game and (b) get it out of the hands of the owners. When that happens, I'll start watching again.

What do you mean, "get it out of the hands of the owners"?

Are you suggesting that the owner of a company remove him/herself from determining how to discipline their employees?

 

[jonessed]

One more time, why would the NFL lie about someone providing them the video when they know the person who provided it could contradict their story. If they had the tape, someone gave it to them, it didn't magically appear on Goodell's desk from Santa Clause. Additionally, what allegiance does the NFL have to Rice in the first place to want to protect him? If they really wanted to improve the reputation of the league, no player would ever get caught for using PEDs or banned substances.

Why would TMZ be able to attain the video then and not the NFL?

The only way the NFL gets this tape is if they pay someone to acquire it illegally. That's not a problem for TMZ, but it's definitely a problem for the NFL.Why would the NFL risk so much to protect Ray Rice. A consiracy theory based on this just just doesn't make any sense.

 

[roadkill1292]

Was there any rioting or looting last night as a result of this?

Seems to be the mindset of society these days. Everyone wants full disclosure of what happened and they want all documents released to the public before the ink has dried.

Here's a novel thought. The NFL is business, they owe you nothing. They are free to act however they wish within the guidelines of the law. The NFL itself never committed any crimes in this Rice incident. If you don't like what the NFL has done, quit buying their products.

How bout you? Are you going to quit buying their products? Why or why not?

I will keep watching. I don't care what the NFL does or doesn't do to discipline its players. As far as I'm concerned if a player breaks the law, then it's up to the police, the DA, and the jury of his peers to determine his punishment.

In the end, it's a game. I watch the games and play FF football for the enjoyment. When the day comes that I don't enjoy it, I'll stop. But, it won't be because the NFL didn't discipline their players to my standards.

Now, how bout you?

I'd like to (a) improve the game and (b) get it out of the hands of the owners. When that happens, I'll start watching again.

What do you mean, "get it out of the hands of the owners"?

Are you suggesting that the owner of a company remove him/herself from determining how to discipline their employees?

I don't think this is the thread for that discussion. For right now, let's leave it that the actions of the people who own the teams have a large effect on whether or not I will consume their product.

 

[fatness]

TMZ isn't in any legal trouble for getting the video and the NFL would not have been either. It's not like they'd pay for it with a check issued by "National Football League".

 

[Tennessee_ATO]

Fatness,

According to Ravens sources, the video was not "substantially" different from what Rice told the team what happened. It was the actual visual that "looked more violent" than they realized.

Look, the guy has comic-book arms and shoulders. Unless she was wielding a machete, how in the hell was he seriously fending off an attack? Anyone who believed that was living in denial.

Frankly, the complete nonchalant manner with which he approached the whole "I just knocked my fiancé the f out" scenario is the most worrisome aspect of this whole thing. Most human beings would be freaking out if their significant other was knocked unconscious, even if by accident. Not Ray though. He acted like it wasn't a big deal at all.

Anyone, and I mean anyone, who allowed himself to think that this wasn't precisely what happened in that elevator should be ashamed. I'm sorry, but the whole "she has some culpability because he has a right to defend himself" rationalization is what allows domestic abuse to go largely unpunished.

 

[Tennessee_ATO]

Perhaps "The Shield" should develop a concussion protocol for wives and girlfriends of players.

 

[CapnJB]

I may be naive but the conspiracy nuts aren't using any common sense.

If no one affiliated with the NFL had seen the video, why did Peter King report in July that multiple people affiliated with the NFL had seen the video?

It's not a conspiracy. The NFL said one thing in July and another thing today. Either they are lying today, or they were lying in July. You believe they were lying in July. I believe they are lying today. Both positions are rational given the evidence we have. Neither is "nutty".

According to King:

Earlier this summer a source I trusted told me he assumed the NFL had seen the damaging video that was released by TMZ on Monday morning of Rice slugging his then-fiancée, Janay Palmer, in an Atlantic City elevator. The source said league officials had to have seen it. This source has been impeccable, and I believed the information. So I wrote that the league had seen the tape. I should have called the NFL for a comment, a lapse in reporting on my part. The league says it has not seen the tape, and I cannot refute that with certainty. No one from the league has ever knocked down my report to me, and so I was surprised to see the claim today that league officials have not seen the tape.

 

[BassNBrew]

TMZ isn't in any legal trouble for getting the video and the NFL would not have been either. It's not like they'd pay for it with a check issued by "National Football League".

Why would they pay for it?

 

[BassNBrew]

I may be naive but the conspiracy nuts aren't using any common sense.

If no one affiliated with the NFL had seen the video, why did Peter King report in July that multiple people affiliated with the NFL had seen the video?

It's not a conspiracy. The NFL said one thing in July and another thing today. Either they are lying today, or they were lying in July. You believe they were lying in July. I believe they are lying today. Both positions are rational given the evidence we have. Neither is "nutty".

The NFL didn't say one thing in July, a King source said one thing in July.

Now your trying to convince me that the NFL lied this week knowing that they had already had made a statement to the con tray previously. Serious guys, you think Goodell just sits in his office with Gordon getting high and drunk with Gordon and just makes random statements?

 

[PatsWillWin]

One more time, why would the NFL lie about someone providing them the video when they know the person who provided it could contradict their story. If they had the tape, someone gave it to them, it didn't magically appear on Goodell's desk from Santa Clause. Additionally, what allegiance does the NFL have to Rice in the first place to want to protect him? If they really wanted to improve the reputation of the league, no player would ever get caught for using PEDs or banned substances.

Why would TMZ be able to attain the video then and not the NFL?

The only way the NFL gets this tape is if they pay someone to acquire it illegally. That's not a problem for TMZ, but it's definitely a problem for the NFL.Why would the NFL risk so much to protect Ray Rice. A consiracy theory based on this just just doesn't make any sense.

Why would it be illegal for the NFL to get the tape?

 

[PatsWillWin]

I may be naive but the conspiracy nuts aren't using any common sense.

If no one affiliated with the NFL had seen the video, why did Peter King report in July that multiple people affiliated with the NFL had seen the video?

It's not a conspiracy. The NFL said one thing in July and another thing today. Either they are lying today, or they were lying in July. You believe they were lying in July. I believe they are lying today. Both positions are rational given the evidence we have. Neither is "nutty".

According to King:

Earlier this summer a source I trusted told me he assumed the NFL had seen the damaging video that was released by TMZ on Monday morning of Rice slugging his then-fiancée, Janay Palmer, in an Atlantic City elevator. The source said league officials had to have seen it. This source has been impeccable, and I believed the information. So I wrote that the league had seen the tape. I should have called the NFL for a comment, a lapse in reporting on my part. The league says it has not seen the tape, and I cannot refute that with certainty. No one from the league has ever knocked down my report to me, and so I was surprised to see the claim today that league officials have not seen the tape.

Oof.

 

[Adam Harstad]

I may be naive but the conspiracy nuts aren't using any common sense.

If no one affiliated with the NFL had seen the video, why did Peter King report in July that multiple people affiliated with the NFL had seen the video?

It's not a conspiracy. The NFL said one thing in July and another thing today. Either they are lying today, or they were lying in July. You believe they were lying in July. I believe they are lying today. Both positions are rational given the evidence we have. Neither is "nutty".

The NFL didn't say one thing in July, a King source said one thing in July.

Now your trying to convince me that the NFL lied this week knowing that they had already had made a statement to the con tray previously. Serious guys, you think Goodell just sits in his office with Gordon getting high and drunk with Gordon and just makes random statements?

I followed Bountygate. It wouldn't surprise me.

 

[PatsWillWin]

I'd still like to hear some reasons why Goodell, hypothetically, would see that tape, and decide to let Rice off easy and pretend to have not seen the tape.

Why? Goodell has been stomping on players his entire time in office. He gets criticized for doing it too much. Why is he going to stick his neck out so that Ray Rice only misses two games for something despicable like this?

Don't tell me to "cover it up" and "protect the shield." That would be a possible reason if the entire thing was a secret. It wasn't. Everyone knew Rice knocked out his fiance.

What would his motivation be?

 

[BassNBrew]

I'd still like to hear some reasons why Goodell, hypothetically, would see that tape, and decide to let Rice off easy and pretend to have not seen the tape.

Why? Goodell has been stomping on players his entire time in office. He gets criticized for doing it too much. Why is he going to stick his neck out so that Ray Rice only misses two games for something despicable like this?

Don't tell me to "cover it up" and "protect the shield." That would be a possible reason if the entire thing was a secret. It wasn't. Everyone knew Rice knocked out his fiance.

What would his motivation be?

You're talking to a wall. People are so anti-Goodell that they spin any story to suit their purpose.

He doesn't protect the players but has wussified and ruined the game.

He puts too many games on TV.

He's draconian in his punishments but soft on domestic violence.

 

[MattFancy]

From the Big Lead: http://thebiglead.com/2014/09/10/espn-legal-analyst-nfl-security-has-been-digging-up-information-and-hiding-it-for-years/

Lester Munson was a guest on Dan Le Batard’s radio show on Tuesday to discuss the Ray Rice fallout, and how the NFL could have bungled its investigation so badly. The ESPN legal analyst was asked what was most interesting to him about all of this, and his response indicated that his reporting has overlapped with NFL security for much of Roger Goodell’s tenure:

“The most interesting thing to me is to watch how these NFL security people operate. I have encountered them in the course of my reporting. I was bumping into them in the Michael Vick story for about three weeks in Virginia. They are expert investigators, former federal agents, a lot of police chiefs, a lot of detectives — they know exactly what they’re doing. And, if they want something, believe me they can get it.”

“My takeaway is they did not want to see the video of what happened in the elevator, and therefore they didn’t get it. They could have had it if they wanted it. If TMZ can get it, the NFL security force can get it.”

 

[Kilgore]

At the risk of offending -- Why the flip is everyone losing their minds after seeing the video? In all seriousness, what did people THINK happened in that elevator? For crying out loud, the guy ADMITTED he punched her in the face. We knew he knocked her unconscious.

Rice told his teammates he was fending off an attack from his fiance. Plenty of message board posters were suggesting that she was at fault, that she attacked him, that she was drunk and fell and hit her head. All those excuses faded away when the video was seen. Now some people seem angry the video was seen, it appears.

Including Rice's wife, apparently. "This is our life! I like to get hit! I deserve to get hit! Stay out of my husband's dungeon!"

 

[Kilgore]

I may be naive but the conspiracy nuts aren't using any common sense.

If no one affiliated with the NFL had seen the video, why did Peter King report in July that multiple people affiliated with the NFL had seen the video?

It's not a conspiracy. The NFL said one thing in July and another thing today. Either they are lying today, or they were lying in July. You believe they were lying in July. I believe they are lying today. Both positions are rational given the evidence we have. Neither is "nutty".

According to King:

Earlier this summer a source I trusted told me he assumed the NFL had seen the damaging video that was released by TMZ on Monday morning of Rice slugging his then-fiancée, Janay Palmer, in an Atlantic City elevator. The source said league officials had to have seen it. This source has been impeccable, and I believed the information. So I wrote that the league had seen the tape. I should have called the NFL for a comment, a lapse in reporting on my part. The league says it has not seen the tape, and I cannot refute that with certainty. No one from the league has ever knocked down my report to me, and so I was surprised to see the claim today that league officials have not seen the tape.

Oof.

King's a friggin' SHILL, is what he is.

 

[MattFancy]

I may be naive but the conspiracy nuts aren't using any common sense.

If no one affiliated with the NFL had seen the video, why did Peter King report in July that multiple people affiliated with the NFL had seen the video?

It's not a conspiracy. The NFL said one thing in July and another thing today. Either they are lying today, or they were lying in July. You believe they were lying in July. I believe they are lying today. Both positions are rational given the evidence we have. Neither is "nutty".

According to King:

Earlier this summer a source I trusted told me he assumed the NFL had seen the damaging video that was released by TMZ on Monday morning of Rice slugging his then-fiancée, Janay Palmer, in an Atlantic City elevator. The source said league officials had to have seen it. This source has been impeccable, and I believed the information. So I wrote that the league had seen the tape. I should have called the NFL for a comment, a lapse in reporting on my part. The league says it has not seen the tape, and I cannot refute that with certainty. No one from the league has ever knocked down my report to me, and so I was surprised to see the claim today that league officials have not seen the tape.

Oof.

King's a friggin' SHILL, is what he is.

I like King because he gets alot of info since he's well connected, but he's not ever going to go against the league. When the original 2 game suspension came out, he wrote a column trying to justify why Rice was only getting 2 games.

 

[fatness]

TMZ isn't in any legal trouble for getting the video and the NFL would not have been either. It's not like they'd pay for it with a check issued by "National Football League".

Why would they pay for it?

I'm assuming the didn't do their investigation on Bountygate for free. That's a reasonable assumption. Another reasonable assumption is that they didn't do their investigation of Vick for free. They pay people, on staff and off, to investigate things for them. And some of the people they pay have contacts, and pay other people, and the NFL gets what it wants.

Andrew Brandt, former vice president of the Green Bay Packers, said the NFL and teams work together during investigations of allegations against players. NFL security, typically made of former federal law enforcement agents and team security officers who previously worked in local police agencies, use contacts they've developed in their prior professions to ferret out all available information.

Because of those contacts, the league and teams sometimes gain access to information that's not public. Brandt said it would be "naive" to think an organization as powerful as the NFL wouldn't exhaust all of its contacts to learn as much as it can.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/bs-md-rice-evidence-trial-20140909,0,3157313.story

The tape was gettable if the NFL wanted it. Whether they got it or not is another matter. And Goodell is making an utter fool of himself saying they couldn't get it.

 

[Adam Harstad]

I'd still like to hear some reasons why Goodell, hypothetically, would see that tape, and decide to let Rice off easy and pretend to have not seen the tape.

Why? Goodell has been stomping on players his entire time in office. He gets criticized for doing it too much. Why is he going to stick his neck out so that Ray Rice only misses two games for something despicable like this?

Don't tell me to "cover it up" and "protect the shield." That would be a possible reason if the entire thing was a secret. It wasn't. Everyone knew Rice knocked out his fiance.

What would his motivation be?

He hasn't been stomping on players his entire time in office, though. I've been saying for years that ever since Tagliabue repudiated his handling of Bountygate, Goodell has been tiptoeing around everything and relying on his early reputation. He replaced his hammer with a toy mallet. So the reason for the 2-game suspension despite seeing the tape is because it's totally in keeping with his MO since Bountygate. And the reason for covering it up afterwards is because it's extremely damaging to the NFL if people believe he saw the tape and still only handed out a 2-game ban.

Honestly, there's no way this tape should have provided any new information to the league. We *KNEW* that Rice- a very large and athletic man- punched his wife hard enough to knock her unconscious. Even casual fans knew that Rice "hit her like a man" and that she fell and cracked her head on the railing inside the elevator, because both of those were reported by national outlets. The tape provided no information that even a cursory investigation would not have, so changing the punishment based on the tape is tacitly acknowledging that the NFL did not perform any investigation at all in July- even just reading ESPN- or that this new suspension is about something other than the facts of the case itself.

 

[justinl]

Naive? It makes more sense than the giant conspiracy theory most are throwing around. That Mortensen had already reported the sequence of events back in June/July, that he said this morning Rice described the events exactly as they played out to the NFL and the Ravens. What's more realistic, that they are covering up the fact that they did have the video, and now are using Rice as a scapegoat, all the while throwing the book at him? Or that they didn't in fact see the 2nd video, and that it was a 2nd hand account of the events, as Mortensen reported?

Mortensen reported the sequence of events in June/July... based on the words of a source who had seen the video. He never explicitly identified the source as a league source, but I doubt Mortensen has many sources that aren't league or team sources. And if Mortensen, a sports reporter with no real-world connections to speak of, could manage to get that close to the video, how incompetent would the NFL have to be not to?

Also, Peter King wrote in July: "There is one other thing I did not write or refer to, and that is the other videotape the NFL and some Ravens officials have seen, from the security camera inside the elevator at the time of the physical altercation between Rice and his fiancée."

Basically, two months ago every single well-connected reporter worth his salt was saying "Hey guys, lay off the NFL, I know this suspension looks bad but you haven't seen the elevator video and they have so you're not in a position to judge". And today, that story has magically become "Video? What video? Never saw it."

There are two entirely plausible, non-conspiracy theories that explain both positions while assuming that those involved are rational actors. Either the NFL was lying *THEN*, or the NFL is lying *NOW*. And honestly, I would believe either at this point, but the level of detail in Mortensen's report suggests to me it's more likely that they're lying now.

It's a shame that Mortensen or King aren't saying anything more on the subject, other than parroting the NFL party line rather than risking access.

I was simply replying to the comment that "it is naive to vote yes." While those two scenarios are plausible, I'm not saying they aren't, you're talking about hearing things 2nd and 3rd hand. I don't recall the NFL releasing a statement saying that they saw the video. And I totally understand that ESPN thrives on the NFL, but the reports are coming out that it was a police contact that saw the video and corroborated Rice's account of the event. And I believe that report came from Mort as well.

I'd still like to hear some reasons why Goodell, hypothetically, would see that tape, and decide to let Rice off easy and pretend to have not seen the tape.

Why? Goodell has been stomping on players his entire time in office. He gets criticized for doing it too much. Why is he going to stick his neck out so that Ray Rice only misses two games for something despicable like this?

Don't tell me to "cover it up" and "protect the shield." That would be a possible reason if the entire thing was a secret. It wasn't. Everyone knew Rice knocked out his fiance.

What would his motivation be?

I think he was caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, Rice's act was deplorable and warranted a severe punishment. But then he's a first time offender. Not only have the courts been lenient for first time offenders, but the NFL has given out only 1-2 game suspensions. Rice is a high profile player, so it is tough because this is going to make headlines. And if he goes against the norm, he sets a precedent for all offenders no matter the severity. He chose to err on the side of caution and keep the status quo.

If the video were not made public and Rice received an indefinite ban in addition to being cut, I guarantee he would have appealed that (a punishment 8+ times more severe than any offender before, making it off base). But he is likely to let everything run its course b/c it is out in social media.

 

[GreenBaySnackers]

What the hell does seeing the video have to do with his suspension? They knew he punched her in the face and knocked her out, now that you've seen him actually do it, it makes it worse and worthy of a longer suspension? Furthermore, what does it have to do with football. If the victim wanted to press charges she could get him locked up and he wouldn't be able to play football. But rather than do that, she married him and wants him to play, so this is actually just as much punishment for her. This is an issue between Ray Rice and his wife. This whole thing is stupid.

 

[MattFancy]

What the hell does seeing the video have to do with his suspension? They knew he punched her in the face and knocked her out, now that you've seen him actually do it, it makes it worse and worthy of a longer suspension? Furthermore, what does it have to do with football. If the victim wanted to press charges she could get him locked up and he wouldn't be able to play football. But rather than do that, she married him and wants him to play, so this is actually just as much punishment for her. This is an issue between Ray Rice and his wife. This whole thing is stupid.

What does it have to do with football? Um, he works for the NFL.

 

[fatness]

What the hell does seeing the video have to do with his suspension? They knew he punched her in the face and knocked her out, now that you've seen him actually do it, it makes it worse and worthy of a longer suspension? Furthermore, what does it have to do with football. If the victim wanted to press charges she could get him locked up and he wouldn't be able to play football. But rather than do that, she married him and wants him to play, so this is actually just as much punishment for her. This is an issue between Ray Rice and his wife. This whole thing is stupid.

What does it have to do with football? Um, he works for the NFL.

"worked for the NFL"

 

[Adam Harstad]

I was simply replying to the comment that "it is naive to vote yes." While those two scenarios are plausible, I'm not saying they aren't, you're talking about hearing things 2nd and 3rd hand. I don't recall the NFL releasing a statement saying that they saw the video. And I totally understand that ESPN thrives on the NFL, but the reports are coming out that it was a police contact that saw the video and corroborated Rice's account of the event. And I believe that report came from Mort as well.

I apologize, then- you're absolutely right. We have two plausible stories, and I don't think it's the slightest bit naive to believe either one of them with the information we have.

 

[Grateful Parrot]

I'd still like to hear some reasons why Goodell, hypothetically, would see that tape, and decide to let Rice off easy and pretend to have not seen the tape.

Why? Goodell has been stomping on players his entire time in office. He gets criticized for doing it too much. Why is he going to stick his neck out so that Ray Rice only misses two games for something despicable like this?

Don't tell me to "cover it up" and "protect the shield." That would be a possible reason if the entire thing was a secret. It wasn't. Everyone knew Rice knocked out his fiance.

What would his motivation be?

I could see a scenario where Rice is a first time offender, wife doesn't press charges, neither does the DA. So Goodell puts him in secret probation, Rice agrees to go to anger management and family counseling. And hope this all goes away.

The tape is released to the public, Goodell calls Rice and say "sorry dude, you have to go, but just hang out continue counseling and wait till the dust settles. Maybe we can get you in with Dungy. It worked for Vic"