OWINGS MILLS – Ray Rice said he hopes to one day re-establish himself as an active member of the community as well as a respected member of the Baltimore Ravens’ organization.
But the perception of Rice is different than it was four months ago. He said Friday he understands that.
The running back spoke publicly Friday for the first time since he was arrested and later charged with third-degree aggravated assault following an altercation with his now-wife inside an Atlantic City hotel elevator in February.
“The job that I did was more than scoring touchdowns,” Rice said. “It was getting out into the community. It was helping out. So when all of you [saw] this come upon [us], this thing [that] happened with me and my wife, everyone questioned what happened.
“But one thing I can say is that sometimes in life you will fail. But I won’t call myself a failure. Failure is not getting knocked down. It’s not getting up.”
Rice did not answer questions Friday. He was advised by his lawyers, Ravens team officials and the NFL Players Association not to do so. He also did not touch on what happened that night in February.
What he did was apologize to Baltimore’s organization, his fans and “to everyone who was affected by this situation that me and my wife were in.”
He also vowed to grow from the incident.
But Rice also said he understands he “failed miserably.”
“I had many nights and many days and a lot of time to reflect on a lot of things,” Rice said.
Rice was flanked by his wife, who spoke Friday as well.
There were also several members of his family in attendance for support, including his mother, his sister-in-law, his father-in-law and the Rices two-year daughter, Rayven.
Rice got choked up at one point addressing his father-in-law.
“Mr. Palmer, my father I never had, thank you for teaching me what it is to be a man,” Rice said. “I know it wasn’t easy when you saw everything that happened, but I just remembered your words, ‘You’ll get through it.’
“Those words will always stick with me deeper than anything I can imagine because one thing you gave me was trust. We’re working on our relationship, but one thing you [do] is trust me that I have Janay’s best interests [at heart].”
Despite what happened, the Rices were married in March. Rice said they continue to undergo counseling.
“I can say that I am happy that we continue to work through it together,” Janay Rice said. “We are continuing to strength our relationship and our marriage and do what we have to do for not only ourselves collectively but individually and working on being better parents for Rayven and continue to be good role models for the community like we were doing before this.”
Janay Rice also apologized for her role in the incident, saying, “I do deeply regret the role that I played in the incident that night.”
For more on the Ray Rice press conference click HERE…
[cardoza_wp_poll id=”1137″]
