Ray Rice didn't read a prepared statement from a cell phone this time. The Baltimore Ravens running back addressed the media regarding his assault charge for the first time on his own and spoke with emotion about the mistakes he has made.
"My actions that night were totally inexcusable. That night, I'm just (gonna) put it this way, that night I just replay over and over in my head. That's not me. My actions were inexcusable. That's something I have to live with the rest of my life," Rice said.
With his wife, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, and many teammates looking on, Rice stressed that his wife did "no wrong" and that she's "an angel." Rice, who was suspended by the NFL for the first two games of the season, has known his wife since high school.
"The pain I'm talking about living with is that, is waking up every day and my daughter is two years old now, I have a little girl who's very smart, very intelligent," Rice said. "And one day she's gonna know the power of Google. And we have to explain that to her -- what happened that night. And I know that's not who I am as a man.
"That's not who my mom raised me to be. Anybody knows me and knows me, they know I was raised by a single parent and that was my mother. And sitting here today and replay the things my mom raised me to be. I let her down, I let my wife down, I let my daughter down, I let my wife's parents down, I let the whole Baltimore community down, and I got my teammates here to support me and I let my teammates down, you know I let so many people down because of 30 seconds of my life that I know I can't take back."
Rice said that he was in counseling, which is helping him to "interact with my inner self." Rice said that missing the first two games of the season is "going to hurt" because he won't be with his teammates.
But he stressed he wanted to "own it" as a man and was not going to appeal any suspension. Rice said that telling his daughter someday about the incident would hurt more.
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