Ray Lewis Talks Ray Rice After Graphic Video: Don’t Compare Us, We’re Not The Same

By Maria Vultaggio@mariamzzarellam.vultaggio@ibtimes.com
on September 08 2014 9:33 PM

Ray Lewis does not want to be compared to Ray Rice after the video of him punching his wife went viral. Reuters

Ray Lewis does not want to be compared to former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice following the leak of footage showing Rice knocking out his then-fiancée at the Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. The athletes share the same first name and both starred on the Baltimore Ravens, but that’s where the similarities end, Lewis said.
Lewis, who is an ESPN analyst now, talked about the situation on the air Monday. “There’s no comparison,” Lewis said, according to NBC Sports. “There is no comparison between me and Ray Rice. It’s night and day.”
Both players have been
in violence-related trouble with the law. Lewis was arrested in a killing in 2000. He ultimately agreed to plead guilty to obstruction of justice and to testify against his co-defendants. He was sentenced to 12 months probation. The Ravens stood by his side throughout the ordeal.
“I’m disappointed. This is personal for me so I’m torn because this is a guy, a young man, that I really took under my wing and tried to mentor,” Lewis said of Ray Rice. The sports analyst said he grew up watching his mother get hit.
Rice was cut from the Baltimore Ravens and indefinitely suspended from the NFL after TMZ Sports leaked the surveillance video Monday appearing to show Rice punching his then-fiancée during an altercation in an Atlantic City elevator in February 2013. She falls and hits her head on a rail, knocking her unconscious. An earlier hotel surveillance video released by TMZ just showed Rice dragging a woman from the elevator.
He and his now-wife, Janay Palmer, were charged with assault and issued an apology at a press conference at the time of incident. There was an outcry after Rice was issued just a two game suspension.
The NFL officials said they had not seen the video until Monday. Rice was then released from the Ravens and suspended from the NFL indefinitely.  The statement from the Ravens was brief. "The Baltimore Ravens terminated the contract of RB Ray Rice this afternoon," it read.