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          NFL Nation

          Ravens should finally take stand on Rice

          • Jamison Hensley, ESPN Staff WriterSep 8, 2014, 05:12 PM
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              Jamison Hensley is a reporter covering the Baltimore Ravens for ESPN. Jamison joined ESPN in 2011, covering the AFC North before focusing exclusively on the Ravens beginning in 2013. Jamison won the National Sports Media Association Maryland Sportswriter of the Year award in 2018, and he authored a book titled: Flying High: Stories of the Baltimore Ravens. He was the Ravens beat writer for the Baltimore Sun from 2000-2011.
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          UPDATE: The Baltimore Ravens announced this afternoon that they have released running back Ray Rice.

          The video released showing Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice striking his then-fiancée, Janay Palmer, is damning, disturbing and infuriating.

          The NFL should be ashamed for giving Rice a two-game suspension, even if it didn't see the actual footage. The legal system should be questioned for allowing Rice to enter into a pre-trial intervention program. And the Ravens should be lambasted if they go to Cleveland in 13 days and allow Rice to take the field.

          It's time for the Ravens to finally take a harsh stand with Rice. The days of supporting their star running back should be over.

          This is a franchise that sent its team president and general manager to New York to stand by Rice during his meeting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. This is a team that has repeatedly defended and lauded Rice's character on its website and social media accounts.

          There's just no defending Rice any longer. Not after you watch him knock a woman off her feet.

          What action should the Ravens take? The likelihood of the Ravens cutting Rice is extremely low because of the salary-cap ramifications (he would count $9.5 million in dead money in 2015), although you could make the argument that this new visual evidence goes beyond cap dollars.

          At the very least, the Ravens need to suspend Rice for an extended period. If the NFL doesn't want to revisit his case, the Ravens should take the initiative and bring additional punishment.

          This would be out of character for the Ravens because they usually let the NFL handle disciplinary action. But the league didn't do enough, especially in light of the latest video, and the Ravens can't act like they are mere bystanders.

          There's a chance that the Ravens would face opposition from the players' union for this sort of action. A team suspension may not hold up in court because Rice has already partially served the suspension, but that should be the least of the team's worries right now.

          If the Ravens hadn't seen the video before, they woke Monday morning to see one of their employees striking a woman unconscious. How many businesses would allow that person to continue working for them?

          The video shouldn't come as a complete shock, given the first TMZ video, which showed Palmer being dragged out of the elevator unconscious. Seeing Rice deliver the blow, however, puts an end to anyone suggesting "we don't know what exactly happened in the elevator."

          Everyone now knows. And those Ravens fans who cheered Rice during the preseason should now be clamoring for their team to take a stand.

          The league acknowledged that it dropped the ball with Rice's suspension, and the Ravens can't compound it by giving the ball to Rice in less than two weeks.