Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh continued to defend the team’s handling of Ray Rice after his February arrest for domestic violence.

The Ravens late Friday claimed that a story by ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” about how the team and the NFL handled the Rice’s situation had “numerous errors, inaccuracies, false assumptions and, perhaps, misunderstandings.”

Harbaugh was asked after the Ravens’ 23-21 win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday whether the report that he wanted to release his former running back shortly after his arrest for punching out his then-fiancee in an Atlantic City casino elevator.

Harbaugh initially didn’t answer, calling it a “football day,” and said he would address it Monday. Then he elaborated.

“I can tell you this — Kevin [Byrne, senior vice president of community and public relations] told me not to answer any questions, but I can tell you this,” Harbaugh said. “We work together in our organization. I’m going to go ahead and answer this question, OK?

“Every single football decision we make, we work together. Just like every football decision, you get together, you hash it out. Ozzie (Newsome, general manager) uses the term scrimmaging. You scrimmage it out. Everybody’s got their opinions. It’s not black and white. It’s never nuanced on anything. That decision was exactly like all the other ones. And we walked out of that room, we were united, we stand shoulder-to-shoulder, and that’s how I felt about the decision.

“I thought it was the right decision. And the way we handled it, all the way through, I felt like was the right way to handle it all the way through. I felt like we did the right thing, and I stand behind it. That’s all I’m going to say about it.”

Asked by Peter King of TheMMQB.com whether Harbaugh wanted to cut Rice in February, Harbaugh didn’t provide an unequivocal no.

“That is such an unfair characterization,” Harbaugh said. “It is not fair to the organization. We said all along that the facts would determine the consequences, and that was my stance from the start of this.”

ESPN said it interviewed more than 20 sources over 11 days, including NFL team officials, current and former league officials, NFL Players Association representatives and associates and advisers and friends of Rice. ESPN reported that it found a pattern of misinformation and misdirection fueled by the Ravens and the NFL since the incident occurred.

The “Outside the Lines” report said that Ravens executives, especially owner Steve Bisciotti, president Dick Cass and general manager Ozzie Newsome, publicly and privately pushed for leniency toward Rice from the judicial system and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

Goodell initially suspended Rice for two games in July. When a second video emerged Sept. 8 showing Rice punching his then-fiancee in the face, the Ravens cut Rice and Goodell increased the punishment to an indefinite suspension.