We should know by the end of the day if a federal judge will grant Ezekiel Elliott an injunction against his six-game suspension from the NFL for domestic violence. Over the last 48 hours, it appears Roger Goodell is doing everything he can to try and improve the NFL’s legal footing. His attempts have been comically hollow and desperate.
Let’s start with the biggest clown show in this circus:
NFL is suspending former Giants kicker Josh Brown six more games for domestic violence, sources tell ESPN.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 8, 2017
Read that again…
“… former Giants kicker Josh Brown”
Yes friends, a guy who currently has no job in the NFL has been suspended six games. The NFL suddenly decided to drop this Fisher-Price hammer the morning before Elliott’s injunction will be decided. It’s painfully obvious, but what really hurts is the insult that Goodell and his team thought it wouldn’t be.
We’re not nearly as stupid as the NFL thinks. And if we’re not, you know who especially isn’t? Judge Amos Mazzant of the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas. If you and I find the NFL’s tactics insulting, imagine how he will feel.
Of all of the domestic violence cases heard by the NFL since Ray Rice’s, Josh Brown’s was the league’s biggest fumble. The initial one-game suspension was met with severe public backlash, prompting Roger Goodell to panic and then give Brown the equivalent of an indefinite suspension. A guy you’d definitely want to play cards with, Roger consistently doubles down on his own incompetence.
It’s also convenient that the NFL went after Josh Brown given the conspiracy theories that were swirling about Ezekiel Elliott’s suspension and the Cowboys’ meeting this Sunday with the Giants. Brown’s case was the one that everybody pointed to for comparison; admitted domestic violence over an unproven accusation, one-game and six-game bans respectively. The imbalance and inconsistency couldn’t have been more egregious.
Two days ago, a story began to circulate that the NFL would be investigating legendary WR Michael Irvin for a previous domestic violence accusation. Irvin has been retired since 2000 but is an employee of the NFL network as a studio analyst.
While the league certainly has the right to consider its employees personal conduct, the timing of this story was incredibly convenient. “Look, we aren’t just focusing on players. Everyone associated with the NFL is held to the same standard.” Even if this is genuine, broadcasting it two days before Judge Mazzant’s decision is hardly a coincidence.
Basically, the NFL is trying to whip up some quick legal precedent like a contestant on “Chopped.” Somehow, they think that this laughably transparent maneuver will impress a seasoned federal judge. It’s yet another time that Roger Goodell has failed to read his audience and shown his inadequacy.
Say what you want about the NFL’s increasing revenues during Goodell’s tenure, but many would argue that these were natural developments that had no basis in his influence or involvement. Whenever Goodell is truly front and center of an issue or a decision, it’s almost always come with a hit to the league’s reputation.
I recently went into even more detail about the NFL’s blooper reel when it comes to domestic violence cases. This week is just more of the same; Goodell’s reactionary decisions and make-up calls. They’ve thrown the Hail Mary, and hopefully Judge Mazzant swats it down.
One word…. unbelieveable!!!
The NFL surely screwed up the way that they classified the 6 game suspension on Ezekiel Elliott. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE was never the case because they lacked solid proof that it happened. CONDUCT UNBECOMING there is plenty of proof of that. The suspension should have been classified as CONDUCT UNBECOMING. This a major screw up on behalf of the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell for failing to do their job correctly. On the other hand Jerry Jones has on his hands the Worst Pathetic and Powerful Ticking Time Bomb and it’s getting ready to Explode if Jerry Jones doesn’t do something about it real fast. Ezekiel Elliott thinks that he is above the LAW. All Elliott is a Very Pathetic and Immature A**hole that lacks a Thinking Brain. There is nothing up there but hot air. Someone needs to teach him the FACTS OF LIFE or everyone will be reading the Down Fall of What Could Have Been a Super Running Back. Right now Elliott’s plane is on a Nose Dive getting ready to Crash. Thank goodness I have not spent my hard earned money on Elliott. Only time will tell if Elliott will learn his lesson and Mature.
What law (other than Speeding/Reckless Driving, which is indeed serious) did Elliott break?
Why not suspend OJ while you’re at it??? The NFL doesn’t even care anymore.
The NFL is currently investigating Michael Irvin on DV allegations as well. What’s next, gonna suspend Junior Seau for conduct detrimental to the league? Brown suspension is useless.
The worst culprit here is the NFL team owners – well, the really stupid bylaws they had written and adopted. If these guys had their heads on straight, they would never have created an employee position (Commissioner) with the authority of any “Hitier” wannabe.
It’s ridiculous for any single person to have total authority over everything, but that is what the NFL Constitution & Bylaws provide.
I know the NFL owners really like the financial benefits their employee is supposedly responsible for generating (although most of that was their own doing, via game interest, not their employee’s), but geesh! There is no accountability – at least when there is an actual crime there are multiple safeguards in place that are supposed to prevent a miscarriage of justice, separating investigations from prosecutions and then requiring an adversarial presentation of the facts to a supposedly impartial jury, with a judge whose job it is to insure fairness in the search for truth.
Goodell (NFL employee) is the whole ball of wax – investigator, prosecutor, jury, and judge – and not even a requirement that “something” actually happened before punishment. No separation of powers, and not even a hint of accountability.
What an utterly sweet job — KIim Jong-un would be jealous if he knew.
It’s the CBA, it gave Goodell too much power in the Personal Conduct Policy, which he used to create the Domestic Violence and impose enforcement as he sees fit. The NFLPA is responsible for that policy giving the commissioner so much power. They should never have agreed to that.
Because the NFL is on such bad footing with it’s allegations against EE, I expected it to cave at the arbitration, down to 3 or 2 games. It’s own investigator has since outed their overreach, by saying her interviews with the accuser turned out less-than-believable.
EE already had enough to gut the NFL’s findings in a court of law. Now with the above, his legal team has enough to eviscerate them. I doubt he serves a game of it, will go after lost endorsements $ which the accusations caused, and the case might even lead to Goodell being fired.
You could get a guy off the street to do the job better than he does.