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ESPN’s NFL Insider Adam Schefter was on SportsCenter this morning to comment on TMZ’s appalling video of Ray Rice knocking out his fiancée. Considering how violent the crime, the world is justifiably outraged that Roger Goodell gave Ray Rice a laughable slap-on-the-wrist two-game suspension. Adam Schefter unleashed his ire at the NFL this morning, calling Rice’s suspension in light of the new footage “arguably the biggest black eye the league has ever had.”
But for Schefter, the wounds go deeper. The league issued this statement on Monday morning, saying: “We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator. That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today.” But there are reports in the press from back in July that people in the NFL did see the video, especially from NFL talkinghead wind bag Peter King. Via Kissing Suzy Kolber:
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For all these reasons, Schefter had some harsh criticisms for the NFL this morning. Here’s a transcript:
“It comes down to this: If the NFL had seen that video and suspended Ray Rice for two games, then it’s an embarrassment of the highest proportion. And if it didn’t seen the video before, then it’s time to go back and revisit it.
“There’s not a lot that the league can say that at this point will undo the wrong that has been done here. The league got this wrong. Roger Goodell admitted that he got this wrong. This is arguably the biggest black eye the league has ever had. … Roger Goodell will look back on his time as commissioner of the NFL and say this is easily this is the biggest regret.
“The Ravens, also, accompanied Ray Rice to New York to the league meeting, opened their training facility for him to conduct a press conference, penned tributes to him on their website, supported him through this process. It is difficult to watch this video and bring those ideas together that anybody who could see anybody act like that could support any person. If anybody in this company or any company out there ever did what he did, do you think they’d be working for that company much longer? It’s hard to imagine that.”
Goodell implemented a harsher NFL’s domestic abuse policy and said the lenient suspension was a mistake. But that’s not enough here. You know things are bad at the NFL when a lameduck like Schefter goes in the shield. Ray Rice needs to be released immediately and Roger Goodell should be fired for his gross mishandling of the situation. The fact that he’s even eligible to play after this week’s game a joke.