OTL Report Unveils Inconsistencies in Roger Goodell's Testimony on Ray Rice Case

An Outside the Lines report revealed inconsistencies in Roger Goodell's testimony at Ray Rice's appeal hearing, but the league has responded to those claims, saying the report "distorts" what happened at the hearing.

Continue for updates.

NFL Responds to OTL Report

Friday, Dec. 12

According to Fox Sports' Mike Garafolo, the NFL responded to the Outside the Lines report:

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"The ESPN article written by Don Van Natta distorts the testimony and evidence in the Rice matter. Among the numerous inaccuracies in the story, there are no emails or any other evidence from an NFL investigator stating "I never contacted anyone about the tape." That is a quote not from an email, but from an argument by Rice's own attorney mischaracterizing the evidence. The email in fact explains that, despite his multiple efforts to do so, the investigator was unable to speak with anyone from law enforcement about the tape. The email details the efforts the investigator took in an effort to obtain any and all evidence in the Rice matter. Those steps included contacting and seeking information from the Atlantic City Police Department, the New Jersey State Police, the Atlantic City Solicitor's Office and the Atlantic County Superior Court.

"As the email explains and as NFL Security Chief Jeff Miller's testimony made clear, none of those agencies was willing to provide the League with any information or evidence beyond copies of Rice's indictment and pretrial intervention records. The suggestion that the league never attempted to contact anyone about the tape or that the Commissioner's September 10 memo to the owners was inaccurate is simply incorrect. In fact, the Commissioner's memorandum fully and accurately described the league's investigation, and Judge Jones did not find otherwise."

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OTL Report Finds Inconsistencies in Goodell Testimony

Wednesday, Dec. 10 

The National Football League's handling of the Ray Rice domestic violence saga has been shrouded in dubious accountability. Wednesday offered a new twist to the ongoing story.     

Outside The Lines' Don Van Natta Jr. reports that the NFL did not contact police about seeing the video footage of Rice striking his then-fiancee, now-wife, Janay Rice in an elevator of the Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City in February.

That runs contrary to the memo NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sent out to all 32 teams on Sept. 10, in which he stated that the league requested the tape from the New Jersey State Police. Below is a key excerpt from Goodell's letter, via ESPN.com:

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[...] On multiple occasions, we asked the proper law enforcement authorities to share with us all relevant information, including any video of the incident. Those requests were made to different law enforcement entities, including the New Jersey State Police, the Atlantic City Police Department, the Atlantic County Police Department and the Atlantic County Solicitor's Office.

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The testimony Goodell put forth at Ray Rice's arbitration hearing to appeal an indefinite suspension showed inconsistency between his memo and the latest revelations from Van Natta's report.

Just one day before Goodell sent out the league-wide memo, the NFL's lead investigator proclaimed to the director of league security that there was never any request made to see the Rice tape. That is the main takeaway to be had from this latest development.

ESPN legal expert Lester Munson explained how unprepared Goodell and the NFL seemed to be when the 631-page log of Rice's arbitration hearing testimony was released Wednesday:

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Goodell was the first witness in the arbitration hearing, and the transcript shows that he was not prepared to testify, that his answers were vague and inconsistent, and that he did not seem to grasp important procedures established in the league's personal conduct policy.

His surprisingly imprecise answers to simple questions proved to be crucial to [arbitrator Barbara S.] Jones' decision that Goodell was wrong when he imposed an 'indefinite suspension' on Rice after viewing the inside-the-elevator video in early September. The transcript shows that Goodell could not decipher his own notes, telling the judge, 'I have not seen them in several months.' He was somewhat mystified by the appearance of the name of 'Ray Lewis' in his notes. (Ravens officials told Goodell that they had placed Rice's locker next to Lewis's locker early in Rice's career hoping that Lewis would mentor Rice.)

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The MMQB's Peter King offered his take on Wednesday's report:

Goodell has claimed that what Rice told him about the incident was "inconsistent" with the severity the video showed of Rice's attack, which is part of what led to a mere two-game suspension as initial punishment. However, Rice reportedly did not hide any details in a grim description of exactly what the tape showed, per the New York Daily News.

When Goodell supposedly saw the tape for the first time, that led to a league-imposed, indefinite suspension.

Rice won his appeal from the early-November arbitration hearing, and is currently eligible to return to the NFL for any team. No one has signed Rice at this time.