Former NFL star Rice seeks second chance after 'one bad night'

Former NFL star Rice seeks second chance after 'one bad night'

Former National Football League star Ray Rice said Tuesday he wants a second chance with a club that will look beyond a video of him knocking out his future wife.

Former NFL star Ray Rice is looking to get his career back on track after successfully appealing against an indefinite suspension

Rice spoke with NBC's Today show after winning his appeal Friday against an indefinite suspension, a reinstatement that makes him eligible to be signed by any team.

With one week remaining in the regular season and numerous teams fighting for a playoff spot, Rice could draw interest from several clubs despite the video made public by TMZ in September that showed him knocking his now-wife Janay unconscious during a February incident at a casino elevator in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Rice, who helped Baltimore win the Super Bowl last year but was released by the Ravens after the controversy, told Today that the club that would bring him back to the NFL would have to accept that he had "one bad night."

"I think they would have to be willing to look deeper into who I am and realize that me and my wife had one bad night and I took full responsibility for it," Rice said.

Rice was originally handed a two-game suspension by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for the incident, one criticized at the time as too lenient.

But once the video was made public, that ban was turned into an indefinite suspension by the league, a second punishment for the same violation that was ruled improper last week on appeal.

"One thing about my punishment and everything going along with anything that happened is that I have accepted it," Rice said.

"I went fully forward with it. I never complained. I never did anything like that. I took full responsibility for everything that I did.

"And only thing I can hope for and wish for is a second chance."

But Rice said that if he never played American football again, he would sacrifice for his wife.

"She sacrificed her life, her well-being, for me," Rice said. "Now the role is reversed. I'm sacrificing my well-being for her. I'll sacrifice more (without the NFL) so she can have a better future."

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