Baltimore Ravens

Toni Braxton says she believes in "standing by your man" ... but when it comes to Ray Rice, it's clear the singer thinks Janay Palmer should make an exception.

Toni and her sister Towanda were leaving Mr. Chow in Bev Hills last night when she told us how she sympathizes for Janay for having to deal with her situation in the public eye ... but strongly implies that she should leave her NFL husband.

One major NFL sponsor tells TMZ Sports ... they are "frustrated" with Roger Goodell -- and will keep a close eye on the investigation to determine whether or not to end its relationship with the NFL.

A key member of the company -- who would not let us use his or his company's name, but trust us ... it's as big as it gets -- tells us, "It's one thing after another [with Goodell]" ... noting the company is particularly "frustrated" with Goodell's "inconsistent policies."

We're told the company has had several internal meetings to discuss its relationship with the league -- but it's NOT at the point of pulling money right now.

"We're concerned with the unknown right now. Where is [the Goodell saga] going next?"

CBS has pulled the plug on the musical opening of tonight's "Thursday Night Football" -- and it's very clear it's because they don't want to feature Rihanna in the midst of the Ray Rice scandal.

The opening features Rihanna performing a version of "Run This Town" -- while Don Cheadle introduces the teams and dramatically asks who will "run this town" when the game is over.

But with the Ray Rice scandal in full swing, it's clear CBS didn't want to feature another celebrity who was involved in a high-profile domestic violence incident.

CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus says, "We thought journalistically and from a tone standpoint, we needed to have the appropriate tone coverage."

The musical opening will be replaced by a discussion of Roger Goodell's recent comments about the Ray Rice incident.

NFL officials belatedly contacted the Revel Casino Wednesday ... attempting to find out if someone sent the Ray Rice elevator attack video to a League official back in April.

We're told the NFL is trying to find who was in a position to send a video to the League.

Sources familiar with the internal investigation tell TMZ ... the NFL was told casino employees burned 3 DVDs for distribution shortly after the incident. One DVD was burned for the Risk Management department at the Casino.

A second DVD was burned for Casino Security Investigations. We're told this DVD was supposed to be forwarded to local police.

As for the third DVD ... it's curious. We're told it went to a state law enforcement agency. Our sources would not reveal which agency or why the State of New Jersey was involved.

Our sources say just before the casino closed down ... the original version -- not the dub -- was sent over to Risk Management so it could be secured. We're told the risk manager who had received the first copy had left the casino, so her replacement received the original. We do not know if the replacement ever got the dub her predecessor received.

Hines Ward says he's blown away by Roger Goodell -- telling TMZ Sports he's SHOCKED that with all of the NFL's resources, the Commish says he couldn't get his hands on the elevator tape.

"When you're the NFL and you've got a bunch of FBI [agents], I'm pretty sure they could have got their hands on that tape before they made a ruling."

The former Pittsburgh Steelers superstar -- who's now an NFL commentator on NBC -- says Goodell MUST be held responsible for embarrassing the league ... noting, "He dropped the ball on this one."

10:47 AM PT -- Larry Bird (President of the Pacers) just ripped George over the comments ... saying, "Paul George's tweets from earlier were thoughtless and without regard to the subject of domestic violence and its seriousness in society."

Paul George's leg must be okay ... 'cause he's backpedaling HARD after tweeting out some STUPID comments about the Ray Rice situation.

The Indiana Pacers star came under fire IMMEDIATELY after writing, "I don't condone hittin women or think it's coo BUT if SHE ain't trippin then I ain't trippin.. Lets keep it movin lol let that man play!"

Stupid.

Then it got worse ... with George writing, "If you in a relationship and a woman hit you first and attacking YOU.. Then you obviously ain't beatin HER. Homie made A bad choice! #StayUp"

Were you even watching the same tape?? It wasn't exactly self defense, dude.

Didn't take long for George to realize he screwed up -- and less than an hour later, tweeted, "Let me apologize to the women and to the VICTIMS of domestic violence people my intent was not to downplay the situation."

Ray Rice says hard liquor was the fuel that triggered his elevator rage and he hasn't touched the stuff in months ... sources close to Rice tell TMZ Sports.

Rice told the Baltimore Ravens he and Janay Palmer had been drinking HEAVILY before the altercation. Rice is telling friends he becomes a different person when he boozes it up ... so he's changed his life.

But he hasn't changed that much, because we're told he still drinks wine ... just not hard liquor.

Our sources say Ray and his wife have gotten deep into religion since the February incident -- they were both baptized in March when they decided to become Born again Christians.

We're also told they've also done religious mentoring with other couples ... including NFL players and their wives.

The NFL has appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller to run an investigation into how the league handled evidence in the Ray Rice domestic violence case.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced Mueller's probe will be overseen by Giants owner John Mara and Steelers owner Art Rooney. Goodell says Mueller will have access to all NFL records.

The announcement came hours after a league source told us ... "no one" at the NFL's various offices had received the video of Ray Rice punching his wife -- refuting an AP story that said a league exec was sent the clip back in April.

Matt Lauer knows ... the first morning show to interview Ray Rice WINS -- and that's why the "Today" show ... and everyone else in morning TV is officially in on the chase to lock down the NFL star.

Matt played coy when we asked if he had already reached out to Rice -- but the answer was written all over his face.

He also explained, "Ray Rice has a story to tell that he wants to get out there." It's clear, Lauer wants to be the one to help him tell that story.

"I think anybody who does what I do for a living would wanna sit down with either of them [Ray and Roger Goodell] and Janay as well."

Ray has texted back and forth with some ESPN reporters over the past few days -- but it's unclear if he's committed to an on-camera interview ... yet.

A high-ranking NFL source tells TMZ ... "No one at the league" saw the Ray Rice elevator video until TMZ Sports posted it Monday.

The Associated Press claims someone from law enforcement sent a DVD of the video to an NFL exec in April ... months before Roger Goodell handed down the 2-game suspension.

Up to now ... the NFL has hedged, saying to their knowledge no one in the organization got the tape. But now an NFL source tells us in no uncertain terms ... no one at the league got it. And the source goes on to define the league as 3 things -- NFL headquarters, NFL Films in New Jersey and the NFL Network in L.A.

The source goes on to say the NFL headquarters has around 475 employees at its NYC headquarters, and "no one at these 3 offices saw it."

Roger Goodell made a very bad assumption when he chose not to contact the casino to request a copy of the Ray Rice elevator video -- because law enforcement tells TMZ Sports ... that would have been perfectly legal.

Goodell said Tuesday he did not contact the Revel Casino because it was his understanding "the casino is prohibited from turning over material to a third party during a law enforcement proceeding" -- namely the criminal case against Rice.

But Paul Loriquet, the Director of Communications for the New Jersey Attorney General, tells TMZ bluntly, "No, it's not illegal."

To be clear ... our question was very specific: "Is it illegal for the casino to show or provide this material to a private entity in an ongoing investigation." His answer, "No, it's not illegal."

Mind you ... the NFL has some of the best lawyers in the country. It's inconceivable they didn't do basic legal research to either validate or invalidate Goodell's assumptions.

Floyd Mayweather claims he hadn't seen the new elevator footage of Ray Rice before he went after the NFL for not sticking by their 2 game suspension ... and now he's apologizing to the league.

"I was just getting word from people that there was a video out there. I didn't know because I'm training for a fight," Mayweather said.

"If I offended anyone, I apologize."

Just one problem ... when he made his original comments, Floyd said he HAD seen the video.

Hmmm.

Mayweather had ripped the NFL for changing Rice's 2-game suspension to an indefinite one once the new video came to light. He claimed the league should have stuck to it's original ruling.

Besides the comments about the NFL, Mayweather had also said that Ray was not the worst wife-beater in the country ... his incident just happened to be caught on tape.

An NFL executive got the video of Ray Rice punching Janay way back in April -- and the exec got it from someone in law enforcement ... according to a new report.

The Associated Press is saying a source claims he sent a copy of the video -- first posted by TMZ Sports on Monday -- to the NFL exec, and even got a voicemail from a NFL offices phone number confirming receipt of the video on April 9.

The AP says the source actually played the 12-second VM for them -- and a female voice is heard saying thanks for sending the video and described it as "terrible."

Here's what's curious -- why would the law enforcement official, who admits he was not authorized to share the video, leave his phone number with someone in the NFL ... therefore allowing the leak to be traced back to him?

The United States Congress has inserted itself in the Ray Rice scandal ... the House Judiciary Committee has just fired off a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell ... demanding that he come clean.

The letter -- signed by 12 members of the Committee and obtained by TMZ Sports -- notes that Goodell has said he had requested the video but never got it. But the Committee is skeptical, writing, "To our knowledge the public has not been informed as to specifically how and in what context the request was made, and specifically how relevant law enforcement responded."

TMZ has reported ... Goodell's request was to law enforcement but NOT the Casino, which would have gladly anted up the video. And we reported Rice's lawyer had a copy.

The Committee goes on, "Nor has there been a full explanation as to whether the video was requested of others, such as Mr. Rice's attorney or the casino where the incident occurred (and if not, why not), or whether any employees, agents, or consultants of the league or any of its teams outside of your office had access of the video prior to September 8."

He ran a crappy investigation, but Mike Golic says Roger Goodell will NOT lose his job over the Ray Rice debacle ... in fact, Golic says Goodell deserves to stay in power.

The co-host of ESPN's "Mike & Mike" radio show was out in NYC -- when he stated his case.