Lewis on Rice: 'Some things you can cover up ... some things you can't'

Former Ravens star Ray Lewis commented on the Ray Rice scandal on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown, defending Baltimore's reported mishandling of the case: 

I’ve spent 17 years of my career at this one place. I’ve known [Ravens general manager] Ozzie Newsome now over 19 years of my career. That’s half of my life. I’ve known [Ravens owner] Steve Bisciotti for 15 years of my life. At least one of those men, bottom line, has never lied to me. They have given me an opportunity at life.

On Friday, ESPN reported that the Ravens pushed for leniency in the aftermath of domestic abuse charges leveled at the star running back.

Lewis later spoke about the nature of the crime and Rice's involvement in it.

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 an elevator. There's some things you can cover up and then there's some things you can't.

Many pundits pointed out the irony of Lewis' comments. In 2000, Lewis faced murder charges, which were eventually dropped in exchange for testimony against two co-defendants. Lewis also plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of justice.

-- Alex Suskind