Carl Banks On WFAN: Where Is The NFLPA On The Ray Rice Situation?
NEW YORK (WFAN) -- Many believed it was a matter of when — not if — someone would leak additional footage of the Ray Rice elevator incident.
They were right.
Early Monday, TMZ published what it said was video from inside the elevator at the shuttered Revel Casino in Atlantic City, where Rice was arrested on Feb. 15 for a domestic dispute involving his now-wife Janay.
"If the NFL doesn't (re-open the case), I think the Baltimore Ravens have an obligation," Carl Banks told WFAN co-hosts Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts on Monday. "I think what Commissioner (Roger Goodell) said, in rewriting the rules or re-instituting his rules, he said he got it wrong. Now let's see if the Baltimore Ravens admit that they got it wrong as well.
"But the group that's conspicuously absent in terms of voice on this is the NFL Players Association and their leader, DeMaurice Smith."
The video shows Rice hitting Janay with a left cross, which knocks her head into the railing before she hits the floor. Rice then drags his apparently unconscious fiancee out of the elevator.
"We have not heard a word from them, and this is not a collective-bargaining issue," Banks told Joe & Evan. "Speak on it as humans. You're the leaders of the players. I've yet to hear anything, any statement from them whatsoever. And it's almost like they want to be reactive to anything that's too harsh. But then here's the evidence of something where the player that you often advocate for, you don't want to say a word about it."
Rice was suspended two games for the incident, sparking outcry across the country. Goodell initially defended the punishment as "consistent with other cases," but later seemed to backtrack when announcing harsher penalties for domestic violence offenders.
Now Goodell is facing a fresh round of criticism in the aftermath of the TMZ report. The only video made public prior to Monday was a view from the casino floor focused on the outside of the elevator door.
"I think the Baltimore Ravens have a responsibility to look at doing something, and I want to hear from the Players Association," Banks said. "I want to hear them make a statement on this. They have not. The league has said something about it; the league has admitted they were wrong on the initial punishment.
"But now that this video has emerged, I think it's imperative that all parties involved -- league, union and team -- have something to say or do something about this."
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