I'm hearing on NFL Network, he's suspended, but will play week 1 and that they will review his status for games 2-7. Makes no f-ing sense
Apparently, the arbitrator's ruling came "too late" today for the suspension to be upheld for week 1.
Ezekiel Elliott's six-game suspension reportedly upheld, but he can play Week 1...But there's a twist. According to the The Dallas Morning News' Kate Hairopoulos and NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, Elliott will be eligible to play Week 1 when the Cowboys host the Giants because Henderson issued his ruling too late on Tuesday...
...Here's how Elliott's attorneys responded to Henderson's decision, via ESPN's Adam Schefter:
"We received Arbitrator Harold Henderson's decision to uphold Mr. Elliott's suspension of six games. We are extremely disappointed with Mr. Henderson's inability to navigate through league politics, and follow the evidence and, most importantly, his conscious."
His "conscious?" I'd expect a usage error like that by some moron blogging from his mother's basement, but not in a prepared statement from a group of highly-paid attorneys. Methinks Elliott needs to retain a new legal team...
Before arbitrator's ruling issued today, NFLPA filed lawsuit in federal district court to throw out suspension and seek injunction to halt suspension while lawsuit is pending. NFL has filed motion to dismiss NFLPA suit - basically this is a re-run of Brady challenging Deflategate suspension in federal court, except Brady's lawsuit was in New York and U.S. Second Circuit and this is in Texas and U.S. Fifth Circuit - so nothing in Brady rulings is binding precedent for the Texas court regarding how much deference Goodell should get
https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/09/05/ez...training-order
NFL was not going to go ahead with week 1 suspension and tick off federal judge before the judge has a chance to rule by Friday
Wtf.....
Consider the possibility the explanation that the NFL delayed Elliott's suspension to let him play week one, after the arbitrator upheld it, because it was "too late" on Tuesday when the arbitrator ruled was bullshit and that Goodell & Friends saw this coming down the tracks - let's see how Al & Cris handle this happy subject Sunday night
Judge grants temporary restraining order request for RB Ezekiel Elliott
"The question before the Court is merely whether Elliott received a fundamentally fair hearing before the arbitrator. The answer is he did not," Mazzant wrote. "The Court finds, based upon the injunction standard, that Elliott was denied a fundamentally fair hearing by Henderson's refusal to allow [ex-girlfriend] Thompson and Goodell to testify at the arbitration hearing."
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2...zekiel-elliott
"By my reading, the court has granted Ezekiel Elliott a preliminary injunction, which goes beyond just the temporary restraining order, and makes it likely he plays the entire season while court case proceeds." - Dan Grazianao ESPN
http://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=1-20639115
Funny how the NFLPA is all up in arms about this but failed to do a damn thing about other suspensions that were handed down in previous years.
“I believe the game is designed to reward the ones who hit the hardest. If you can't take it, you shouldn't play!” - Jack Lambert
This is a mess. Goodell being able to pick and choose who and when and to what extent punishment is handed out is nonsense. Seems every suspension and/or fine levied can get taken to court. Just a waste of court time and tax dollars, IMO. Set up a league self governing body of peers and reps to set the standards. This next CBA may be the end of the NFL.
This whole thing is a mess
I hope this plays out in the courts and the NFL loses.
The NFL is not a court of law and they need to stop acting like they are, and while they are at it get out of the drug business as well.
These articles agree with my view this is another cluster by Team Goodell
Even If the NFL Gets Its Way With Ezekiel Elliott, Roger Goodell Once Again Comes Out the Loser
Goodell may ultimately win this war, as he did with Tom Brady, but it will come at a severe cost, as it did with Brady. The Elliott ruling just reinforces the public perception of Goodell and his scattershot justice system. He always looks like he would give prison time for a parking ticket, then forget to lock the cell.
Elliott is nobody’s martyr, and this ruling does not exonerate him. The fourth sentence in the temporary restraining order is, “The question of whether there was credible evidence of domestic abuse is not before the Court.” But people won’t read the ruling. They will just see another Goodell failure.
Goodell bungled Spygate. He bungled Deflategate. He bungled the Ray Rice investigation twice – first when he only suspended Rice for two games, and then again after the video of Rice’s punch surfaced and Goodell pretended he didn’t know what happened. He overreached so far in the Saints’ bounty scandal that his predecessor, Paul Tagliabue, vacated the player suspensions. (Tagliabue arbitrated the Saints’ appeal.) And now Goodell has bungled the Elliott case.
https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/09/08/ez...ll-loses-again
What the Ezekiel Elliott Decision Means for Him, the NFL and Other Players
The NFL can—and almost surely will—appeal the preliminary injunction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The NFL could file a notice of appeal as soon as this weekend and submit an accompanying brief early next week. The speed of an appeal is uncertain at this point, but remember when U.S. District Judge Susan Nelson issued a preliminary injunction for NFL players during the 2011 lockout: the NFL immediately appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and within four days—yes, four days—a three-judge panel on the Eighth Circuit stayed the injunction, meaning the NFL obtained a reversal in the same week....
The NFL is probably optimistic it would win at the Fifth Circuit. At some point after the appeal is filed, a panel of three Fifth Circuit judges will review the appeal. The Fifth Circuit is known in legal circles as very friendly to management and business. Republican presidents nominated nine of the 14 judges on the Fifth Circuit. It is a favorable court for the NFL.
https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/09/08/ezekiel-elliott-suspension-roger-goodell-news
Apparently the owners are fixated almost exclusively increasing franchise market valuatioins, which have skyrocketed under Goodell, but with ratings on a downward trend and the constant bad publicity why the owners do not get rid of Goodell to bring in someone competent escapes me.