Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice had the video of him striking then-fiance Janay Palmer with a punch to the face in an elevator by TMZ online and following the outrage and the statement that they did not see the video previously, the NFL suspended Rice indefinitely and the Ravens released him and now he will need to apply for reinstatement from Roger Goodell.
The NFL will have to answer to fans and everyone else why Rice only got two games and Baltimore should also be answering questions on why they had a press conference defending Rice and making Palmer apologize for her actions that night.
UPDATE: Ray Rice was released by the Ravens and suspended by the NFL indefinitely after lying to the Ravens and the league about what was on the video.
The video was released by TMZ and ESPN.com reports that TMZ altered the video slightly to make it look smoother. The video shows a very different situation than what was described by Rice and the Ravens as well as the NFL, as Palmer does not appear to strike Rice at all before he punched her out cold. Palmer's head clearly strikes a metal bar in the elevator on the side wall on her way down and Rice is seen dragging her out of the video soon after that.
Palmer does not hit Rice before she is struck and it does not take long for Rice to turn physical during the altercation, possibly pushing aside the assumption that this never happened before. Rice has been suspended two games by the NFL and Roger Goodell, which many have said is too light and he was also docked two games checks from this season for over $500,000.
The NFL now likely will take more heat after the video was released, as it's worse than many had previously expected. Ravens fans should feel good about cheering for this man when he comes back onto the field and the organization should feel even better about the sham press conference they had months ago with Rice atoning for what he did but not also apologizing to his wife.
Palmer was hit square in the face without any provocation and Rice now will be out for two games, but that likely will not make people forget about the horrific stuff in this video.
