Lewis says Rice ‘put a lot of people in jeopardy’

Ray Lewis says Ray Rice needs to understand he put himself in this situation. (USATSI)

Ray Lewis, who spent 17 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens and now works for ESPN, said Sunday morning that Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome and Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti were always truthful with him during his tenure with the team.

"I've known Ozzie Newsome more than 19 years of my life," Lewis said. "I've known Steve Bisciotti over 15 years of my life. And each one of those men, bottom line, has never lied to me. Not once."

Lewis' comments come at the end of another tumultuous week for the NFL and the Ravens. On Friday afternoon, ESPN's Outside the Lines reported that Ravens officials knew what transpired in that Atlantic City hotel elevator between Ray Rice and his then-fiancee, Janay Palmer, hours after it happened back in February. The team spent the next few months trying to protect Rice and his reputation, but once the surveillance tape was released publicly two weeks ago, the Ravens cut the running back.

According to the report, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti texted Rice shortly after the team had let him go.

"Hey Ray, just want to let you know, we loved you as a player, it was great having you here," Bisciotti wrote. "Hopefully all these things are going to die down. I wish the best for you and Janay."

And that text was followed by this one moments later: "When you're done with football, I'd like you to know you have a job waiting for you with the Ravens helping young guys getting acclimated to the league."

Back on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown set, Lewis continued.

"They've given me an opportunity at life," he said of the Ravens. "To change not only my life, but my family's life." If this incident -- what we're dealing with -- if they could continue to do this all over again, they would. If the NFL could do this all over again, they would.

"Whether they saw the tape or not, who really knows. ... Sometimes I think get lost in trying to find out whose head to go after and who to attack now about what they didn't do. And sometimes we forget why we're here. We're here for one reason and one reason only: We're here for domestic violence. We're here because we saw a friend of mine brutally hit his wife in the elevator.

"There are some things you can cover up, (watch soundbyte here)" Lewis said. "Then there are some things you can't. Right now is a sad day for me because the reputation I left in this organization -- this isn't it. This isn't it. What was built (over) many years (in Baltimore) took hard work to get that. ...

"Am I a little bit offended when you talk about a guy by the name of Ozzie Newsome, absolutely," Lewis said. "Because he's one of the five-star generals in this world. And I don't want us to lose what's really going on here: Ray Rice put a lot of people at jeopardy with his actions. A lot of people. Not just himself. He needs to understand that. Because none of this happens if what happened that night on that elevator don't happen.

"If I ask for anything in this whole thing, I ask let there be light."

That was followed by this:

Look at Boomer's face After Rev Ray talked about cover ups pic.twitter.com/2gP5N8e6Yn

— Robert Littal (@BlkSportsOnline) September 21, 2014

On Saturday, Ravens senior vice president of public and community relations Kevin Byrne maintained that the ESPN report of a team coverup in Rice's domestic-violence case contained "inaccuracies" that will be addressed at some point after Sunday's matchup with AFC North rival Cleveland.

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