Owings Mills, MD (SportsNetwork.com) – Baltimore Ravens owner Steve
Bisciotti still stands by his stance that no one in the organization saw
the now infamous tape of Ray Rice knocking out his now-wife, Janay
Palmer, in an Atlantic City casino elevator in February.
Bisciotti called a press conference Monday to discuss a recent report
regarding the timing of when the Ravens and NFL officials actually witnessed
the disturbing video.
“It’s a bad picture and that’s why we responded with the facts that we know
them to be,” Bisciotti said of the allegations of misdirection and
misleading by the Ravens in the case. “I’m not happy with it.”
The team also responded to ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” report on its website
with what the team is calling “errors, inaccuracies, false assumptions and,
perhaps, misunderstandings.”
There were 15 bullet points in reference to the allegations.
Bisciotti still contends the Ravens’ brass did their jobs, save for doing
everything in their power to obtain the footage, and that “no one is losing
their job.”
“I’m sorry we didn’t push harder to get that tape. It certainly seems to me we
had the leverage,” Bisciotti said at the press conference. “If it had crossed
my mind, I would have demanded it.”
The owner also opined the reports stem from Rice and his handlers trying to
get the running back reinstated from his indefinite suspension.
“The majority of the sources are people that work for Ray,” Bisciotti said.
“Almost everything in (the report) is anonymous, but it’s clear from the
subject matter that it’s Ray’s attorney, it’s Ray’s agent, it’s Ray’s
friends.
“The best case for reinstatement is to make everyone else look like they’re
lying.”
Bisciotti added Rice will never play for the Ravens again, but believes “this
was Ray’s one terrible moment.”
Near the end of the 50-minute presser, Bisciotti lamented that if the video
was released sooner, Rice’s suspension may have been lighter.
“If it happened in April, it would have been an unprecedented suspension…
(but) I think people would have been a little more forgiving and capable of
welcoming him back,” Bisciotti said.
