5 Worst Decisions The Baltimore Ravens Ever Made
2. Mishandling Ray Rice Aftermath
I don’t really want to rehash this mess of a story, but the Ravens botched this every step of the way. To be fair, Roger Goodell did the Ravens no favors by taking it easy on Rice. The Ravens let the legal system and the commissioner punish Rice before taking any action. It’s not the Ravens fault that the legal system failed and that the NFL gave a first time offender a two game suspension. But the Ravens could have handled this situation a lot better.
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First of all a video should not change how you look at the Ray Rice incident. The facts of the case did not change when the second video was released, the emotion did. Secondly the Ravens probably should have parted ways with Rice after the first video. What Rice did was not something you can really defend. But holding a press conference in which Rice’s fiance (and now wife) apologized for her role in this, was a bad look for everyone involved. Letting Rice read tone deaf words from his cell phone was an embarrassment to the team.
A lot of people wanted the Ravens to be punished for covering things up. There were talking heads on TV calling for the resignations of Ravens officials. It was ugly. In hindsight, much of the negative publicity towards the organization could have been avoided by cutting ties to Rice early rather than late. The second video was a ticking time bomb hanging over the Ravens running back. There was only one way this saga could have ended.
Next: 1. Replacing Trent Dilfer With Elvis Grbac