Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice is appealing his indefinite suspension on Monday and this comes after the NFL changed his punishment for domestic violence from two games to a longer suspension after the video of him striking his then-fiance Janay Palmer was released by TMZ.
According to Pro Football Talk, Rice had three days to appeal after he was informed of the reasoning for his suspension change by the league and now he will do that. The report says that the league claims Rice was not totally truthful about what happened that night in the elevator in the casino and after the video came out they changed it due to those revelations. The NFL rules state that a player cannot be disciplined twice for the same offense, which is likely the basis for the appeal.
PFT writes that the NFL likely will argue that since Rice was not truthful to them about what happened in the elevator, it gave them the right to change the suspension. Rice was given an easy PTI program from the court system after violently striking his now wife and reports show that a fraction of offenders get that diversionary program. The court system showed favor to Rice, a wife beater, and so did the NFL in their two game suspension. Goodell is in a ton of hot water now due to the issues surrounding the suspension and his job could be on the line depending on what the independent investigation into the Ray Rice suspension brings up.
Rice has claimed that he did not lie in the meeting with Goodell and sources have reported to ESPN.com that he did not stretch the truth. Goodell has claimed that the meeting left it "ambiguous" about what happened, while Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome has said that Rice told the truth in his meeting.
