ESPN investigative reporter Don Van Natta discusses the Ravens' handling of the Ray Rice incident and Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti's comments that some of the information in ESPN's report was "manufactured." (6:28)

Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti responded Monday to an ESPN investigative report into the team's handling of Ray Rice's domestic abuse case, saying that a significant amount of the information in the story was "manufactured" from accounts provided by the running back's inner circle.

Bisciotti addressed the ESPN "Outside the Lines" report during a 45-minute news conference, saying he believes that Rice's camp is attempting to "build a case for reinstatement."

Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti was critical of a report by ESPN's "Outside the Lines" regarding the team's handling of the Ray Rice case. AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

"The majority of the sources [from the report] are people that work for Ray," Bisciotti said. "Almost everything in there is anonymous, but it's clear from the subject matter that it's Ray's attorney, it's Ray's agent, it's Ray's friends.

"I'm not mad at those guys for writing the article," Bisciotti also said. He added he wished that ESPN had said who it interviewed for the story, claiming it was mostly people who were sympathetic to Rice's potential reinstatement.

ESPN OTL reporter Don Van Natta, appearing on the network after Bisciotti's news conference, said that "Outside the Lines" interviewed more than 20 sources over 11 days -- team officials, current and former league officials, NFL Players Association representatives and associates, advisers and friends of Rice.

"Unfortunately, it's an assumption [Bisciotti] is making. ... It's an oversimplification of the work we put into this story," Van Natta said.

"We stand by our reporting," an ESPN spokesperson said Monday.

"Outside the Lines" reported Friday that Bisciotti, Ravens president Dick Cass and general manager Ozzie Newsome tried to persuade NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to be lenient with Rice following the former Raven's February arrest.

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The Ravens released Rice on Sept. 8 after TMZ Sports released a video of the running back hitting his then-fiancee, Janay Palmer, in an Atlantic City hotel casino elevator, knocking her unconscious. The NFL suspended Rice indefinitely shortly after he was released by the team.

According to the OTL report, Ravens coach John Harbaugh urged team officials to cut Rice immediately after a first TMZ video, which showed Rice dragging Palmer out of the elevator, was released in February. The report also indicated Harbaugh went to Newsome in March and asked him to release the three Ravens, including Rice, who were arrested in the offseason.

Bisciotti acknowledged that the backlash over the handling of the domestic violence case is by far the biggest crisis he's faced since taking over the team 14 years ago, but he defended the integrity of his organization.

"When your integrity is questioned, it's pretty humbling,'' Bisciotti said. "Last week it was our competence being questioned. Now it's our integrity.''

National Organization for Women president Terry O'Neill, in a statement in response to Bisciotti's news conference, reiterated her displeasure over how the Ravens and the league have handled the Rice investigation and other domestic-violence cases in the past.

"Steve Bisciotti's press conference today is just another attempt at damage control, but it won't work," the statement read. "The NFL's violence against women problem can't be 'handled' or 'managed' -- it needs to be repaired.

"Going forward, the NFL and its teams need to stop treating this issue as a public relations problem and do the hard work, internal reforms and change in behavior that will restore the public's confidence in what once was our most popular sport. Today Mr. Bisciotti tried, in a profoundly clumsy way, to pretend the ship is not sinking, when he should have been helping to set the NFL back on the right course."