Pretty clear in that first frame that Smith was not accelerating into Ray in fact he was decelerating ,butt down backward pressure on the right heal , not in a position to deliver a hit,sorta looks like the "butt fumble". EVERYONE in those photos is either on the ground or disengaged except Ray and Smith one Philly player is getting up from the pile, no way that wasn't well after the whistle .
Anyway ,body of work ,that's the operative term here , oft times the last straw is not justification alone and again HOW Ray played it may have been the issue ,from what we hear he has a propensity for trash talking ,maybe issues accepting responsibility and wasn't GOING TO change. Obviously the coaches saw some value in the guys ability as did some posters here.
Fish has a rep for dealing with bad boys ,Ray must be worse than your run of the mill bb.