The Pittsburgh Steelers are scheduled to play the Baltimore Ravens in Week 2 of the 2014 season and depending on what happens this coming Thursday in an Atlantic County Superior Court, the Ravens could be without starting running back Ray Rice for that game.
According to a Monday morning report by the Baltimore Sun, Rice will be arraigned Thursday for felony aggravated assault stemming from a physical altercation with his on Feb. 15 at Revel Casino in Atlantic City, N.J.
The paper writes:
According to the indictment, Rice allegedly did “cause significant bodily injury to Janay Palmer, and/or did purposely or knowingly cause significant bodily injury to Janay Palmer and/or under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, did recklessly cause significant bodily injury to Janay Palmer.”
While Rice could legally face jail time if convicted of aggravated assault, he likely will avoid that punishment being a first-time offender. However, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell isn’t likely to be as lenient and thanks to some surveillance video that surfaced immediately after the incident took place, he is likely to suspend Rice under the league’s personal conduct policy.
The Ravens open the 2014 season at home against the Cincinnati Bengals and it will be surprising if Rice is in uniform for that game. Whether or not he misses the game against the Steelers will depend on how long Goodell decides to suspend the Rutgers product for.
