A new report from the AP rocked the NFL Thursday when a source said the Ray Rice domestic abuse video was sent to Jeff Miller, the head of security of the NFL. Up to this point the NFL has completely denied ever seeing or asking to see the shocking video that has been a PR nightmare for Roger Goodell and the league.
The video of Ray Rice striking his then-fiancee in a casino elevator was sent to the NFL in April to the attention of Jeff Miller, the league’s head of security, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press.The NFL has consistently denied anyone at the league saw the video before Sept. 8, when TMZ released it. Through a league spokesman Thursday, Miller also denied seeing the video before its public release.
According to the report, the source told the AP two weeks ago that he sent the video to the NFL — and played a 12-second voice mail confirming receipt of the package — but asked that Miller’s name not be included in the story. Thursday, the source lifted that restriction.
The source told the AP he did not know whether Miller received the video or opened the package, and that the source’s only communication with the league was the voice mail, in which a woman’s voice says, “You’re right. It’s terrible.”
“I unequivocally deny that I received at any time a copy of the video and I had not watched it until it was made public on September 8,” he said.
Obviously the source cannot confirm if Miller actually viewed the video, but the fact that a law enforcement official came out and named Jeff Miller as the recipient of the video lends credibility to the claims that the NFL did indeed see the video.
With the incredible resources and reach of the NFL, most people and sports analysts don't believe the league's denials at all and this new report from the AP doesn't help their case one bit.
ESPN's Bill Simmons was suspended for three weeks because he called Roger Goodell a liar in a podcast over on his Grantland site.
In Monday’s episode of his podcast The B.S. Report, ESPN’s Bill Simmons called Roger Goodell a liar. “Please call me and say I’m in trouble,” he said, in what sounded like a message to ESPN’s brass. “I dare you.” On Wednesday, the Worldwide Leader took the dare. According to Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch, “the combination of the nature of the personal attack on Goodell and the challenge to his bosses” added up to a three-week suspension for the Grantland editor-in-chief. That’s two weeks more than ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith got for suggesting that Janay Rice provoked her own beating.
