Bill Simmons on NFL, Roger Goodell: 'It's such f--king bulls--t'

ESPN's Bill Simmons went off on the NFL over its handling of Ray Rice's domestic abuse case in the latest installment of his podcast.

"They knew about the tape and they knew what was on it," he said on The B.S. Report. "Goodell, if he didn't know what was on that tape, he's a liar. I'm just saying it. He is lying. I think that dude is lying. If you put him up on a lie detector test, that guy would fail."

The NFL insists it did not know security camera footage showed Ray Rice punching his then-fiancée, now-wife, in the face when it chose to suspend him for two games. A detailed Outside the Lines report published last Friday undermined that claim, accusing the team and the Baltimore Ravens of "misinformation and misdirection."

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"For all these people to pretend they didn't know is such f--king bulls--t," Simmons went on. "It really is, it's such f--king bulls--t. For him to go into that press conference and pretend otherwise — I was so insulted."

ESPN has a $15.2 billion deal to air Monday Night Football through 2021. Given the network's financial ties to the league, it will be interesting to see if it punishes Simmons for his harsh remarks, as it did last year when he criticized one of its programs. (Simmons appeared to dare the network to "leave him alone," since he was speaking on his own podcast, not on TV.)

Here's the audio, via ThinkProgress. --Jon Terbush