When the NFL decided that they were only going to suspend Ray Rice for two games during the upcoming season as a result of the fight that he got into with his then-fianceé Janay Palmer back in February inside an elevator in an Atlantic City hotel, there were a lot of people who were outraged. And a lot of them were outraged because they couldn't believe that Roger Goodell would only give the Ravens running back a two-game suspension after seeing surveillance footage of what Rice reportedly did to Palmer in the elevator. That footage hasn't been seen by the general public. But police do have the footage and it was widely assumed that the NFL had looked at the tape before handing down Rice's suspension.
"When we're going through the process of evaluating the issue and whether there will be discipline, you look at all of the facts that you have available," Goodell said.
As it turns out, though, the NFL reportedly didn't even bother to check out the footage that police have. According to Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio—who appeared on The Dan Patrick Show this morning—the league never got a hold of the security tapes from that fateful night and, as a result, they didn't see what actually happened between Rice and Palmer.
"I was shocked," Florio told Dan Patrick. "That is an amazing twist in this story, in my view."
Florio went on to explain that it wouldn't have been that hard for the NFL to track down security tapes from that night. So the fact that they didn't do it speak volumes about the league's investigation.
"I don't know why they didn't do it," Florio said. "I don't know whether they tried and Rice stonewalled them [and wouldn't let his lawyers hand over the footage]. But either way, they could have gotten it if they really wanted it."
So why didn't the league do it then? They're still not saying. But it's not a good look for them and it's definitely going to make a lot of people out there even more mad than they already were.
[via Yahoo! Sports]
