No one knows what the wife of Ray Rice said to the Commissioner when she accompanied the Ravens running back to New York for his personal-conduct policy session. Whatever it was, it apparently helped Rice get a lesser penalty than most believe he deserved.
According to Jonathan Lehman of the New York Post, Janay Palmer Rice made an “impassioned plea” to Commissioner Roger Goodell. Her words, whatever they were, reportedly were “instrumental” in the decision to suspend Ray only two games.
What she said isn’t known, and possibly will never be known (unless they have another press conference with no questions from the press). Peter King of TheMMQB.com has reported that Mrs. Rice “urged” Goodell to “not ruin Rice’s image and career” with the punishment. She also presumably apologized for her role in the incident that culminated in Rice knocking her out, given that she expressed that same sentiment during that press-conference-without-questions-from-the-press.
It’s all meaningless without seeing the video of the incident. While troubling footage of Rice dragging his fiancée-turned-wife out of an elevator quickly emerged after the February incident, the video of the punch has been zealously concealed. Our marginally-educated speculation is that the video shows aggression by Janay that could make the likes of Stephen A. Smith sympathize with the ultimate knockout blow, but that the video nevertheless is far more disturbing than what we’ve already seen, given that it ultimately shows Rice delivering an uppercut to a female and rendering her unconscious.