09-20-2014, 11:04 AM
The ESPN piece claims that coach Harbaugh wanted to cut Rice when he first learned the full details of what went down.
According to ESPN journalists, it was the Ravens' Director of Security, Darren Sanders, who got a call from an Altantic police officer who was watching the video at the casino. Sanders quickly relayed the damning video's play-by-play to team executives in Baltimore.
It's not clear to me if anyone inside the Ravens org actually saw the video (later Rice's defense attorney saw it, of course), but it is clear that Sanders conveyed to the team's leaders that it was a punch to the face that laid-out Janay Palmer and that it was a very bad situation. Rice reportedly never claimed otherwise. The Ravens' leadership knew from the get-go that Janay Palmer didn't fall down drunk and hit her head and that she did not fall down after being slapped.
From there, according to the piece, Ravens' owner Steve Bisciotti, president Dick Cass and general manager Ozzie Newsome began extensive public and private campaigns pushing for leniency for Rice on several fronts: from the judicial system in Atlantic County, where Rice faced assault charges, to commissioner Goodell, to within their own building, where some were arguing immediately after the incident that Rice should be released.
Harbaugh eventually toed the line.
According to ESPN journalists, it was the Ravens' Director of Security, Darren Sanders, who got a call from an Altantic police officer who was watching the video at the casino. Sanders quickly relayed the damning video's play-by-play to team executives in Baltimore.
It's not clear to me if anyone inside the Ravens org actually saw the video (later Rice's defense attorney saw it, of course), but it is clear that Sanders conveyed to the team's leaders that it was a punch to the face that laid-out Janay Palmer and that it was a very bad situation. Rice reportedly never claimed otherwise. The Ravens' leadership knew from the get-go that Janay Palmer didn't fall down drunk and hit her head and that she did not fall down after being slapped.
From there, according to the piece, Ravens' owner Steve Bisciotti, president Dick Cass and general manager Ozzie Newsome began extensive public and private campaigns pushing for leniency for Rice on several fronts: from the judicial system in Atlantic County, where Rice faced assault charges, to commissioner Goodell, to within their own building, where some were arguing immediately after the incident that Rice should be released.
Harbaugh eventually toed the line.