NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has spoken. In an exclusive interview this morning, Goodell told CBS This Morning co-host Norah O’Donnell that the league did not see the video of Ray Rice punching his fiancée Janay Palmer until Monday morning when it was released by TMZ.
Since the video was released, the Baltimore Ravens (Rice’s former team) and the league repeatedly claimed that this video was new to them. This, however, was the first time Goodell actually spoke on the issue.
"I got into the office and our staff had come to me and said there's new evidence, there's video that you need to see. And I watched it then," Goodell said in his CBS This Morning interview.
Then O’Donnell asked Goodell if he knew this video existed.
"Well, we had not seen any videotape of what occurred in the elevator," Goodell said.
"We assumed that there was a video. We asked for video but we were never granted that opportunity."
For most sensible human beings, the possibility that the NFL did not see this video still remains slim to none. This incident took place in a casino, where every square inch of real estate is videotaped for obvious reasons.
When asked how TMZ was able to get their hands on the second video, which Goodell said they could not manage, he responded.
"I don't know how TMZ or any other website gets their information," Goodell said. "We are particularly reliant on law enforcement. That's the most reliable, that's the most credible, and we don't seek to get that information from sources that are not credible,” he said, according to CBSSports.com.
That’s the shocker to most in the public. The league is one of the more powerful forces in this country, and their leader is claiming they could not get the job done.
Whether you believe Goodell or not, the one absolute truth of the matter is this: The NFL dropped the ball completely in this situation. Which situation is worse? Would it be the scenario that Goodell and the league saw all of the evidence and still only dished out a meager two-game suspension? Or his scenario where they did not do a thorough enough investigation, and simply did not care enough to find the video that they “knew” existed.
Sadly, because Goodell knows that law-enforcement also dropped the ball (as Rice is not being prosecuted in any way), he knew that not digging as far as they had to would be ok. It’s the perfect cove: If law-enforcement is not pursuing this, then why would we?