Cowboys' Ezekiel Elliott suspended six games for conduct

[jsmith6919]

 

[Genghis Khan]

I doubt it even matters. If they rule against the injunction it means he has just about no chance of winning the appeal.

 

[lostxn]

FFS. Makes no difference to the season.

 

[L.T. Fan]

As I have indicated before this case is a two prong situation. The rulings so far have been about the Commissioner and his authority to suspend a player. That part apparently is being expedited with all the motions that have been filed.

As it stands now the ruling is that the Commissioner does have the authority to suspend players. The part about whether Elliot doesn’t deserve the suspension hasn’t been fully litigated yet. If and when that part of the case is heard then the commissioners ruling might be overturned but until it is actually litigated or settled the Commissioner has the last say at this point.

 

[Cotton]

 

[Chocolate Lab]

^^ Yep. He probably won't be the difference in winning and losing. As long as the majority of the OL stays healthy, we'll be fine.

 

[boozeman]

^^ Yep. He probably won't be the difference in winning and losing. As long as the majority of the OL stays healthy, we'll be fine.

That entirely depends on the offensive tone.

If Garrett suddenly decides he wants to pass more than keep the balance, that "we'll be fine" thing goes out the window.

I don't trust him or Linehan to be disciplined if the run doesn't work.

We already saw what happened in Denver when that was the case.

 

[Smitty]

As I have indicated before this case is a two prong situation. The rulings so far have been about the Commissioner and his authority to suspend a player. That part apparently is being expedited with all the motions that have been filed.

As it stands now the ruling is that the Commissioner does have the authority to suspend players. The part about whether Elliot doesn’t deserve the suspension hasn’t been fully litigated yet. If and when that part of the case is heard then the commissioners ruling might be overturned but until it is actually litigated or settled the Commissioner has the last say at this point.

You keep saying stuff like this. This is incorrect analysis of what is happening.

 

[DLK150]

Yeah, I'm honestly not worried about the running game much. We've got the horses to field a decent ground game with the OL and the back up RBs will have gotten more practice in. The D *seems* to be coming together some as well.

The whole situation is what sticks in my craw and not just because it was Zeke, it's a BS precedent being set that won't be able to be addressed until the next CBA negotiations. I'm not a huge union guy but the NFLPA really needs to grow a pair the next time negotiations happen.

Oh and not to be redundant but fuck Goodell up the bum with a red hot poker.

 

[L.T. Fan]

You keep saying stuff like this. This is incorrect analysis of what is happening.

It’s probably just me but that’s the way I see it. In order to overturn the Commissioner, the circumstances of the accusations that brought about the suspension will have to be ruled on as to whether they are true. If they are not then the Commissioners suspension is invalid. This isn’t a legal opinion rather an observation of the things in play.

 

[Smitty]

Why Elliott didn't settle (video):

https://sports.yahoo.com/why-ezekiel-elliott-didn-t-230149711.html

 

[Smitty]

Ezekiel Elliott fallout: Roger Goodell keeps on end-zone dancing all over players and they have themselves to blame

One by one, lawsuit by lawsuit, decision by decision, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is ascending to disciplinary emperor. And in the wake of the Ezekiel Elliott case, his reign over the players is looking more untouchable than ever.

For NFL players and their union, that’s the fallout from Thursday, when a federal appeals court in New York all but guaranteed Elliott will serve his six-game suspension for violating the league’s domestic violence policy. For Goodell and his legal department, the victory comes despite a few judges along the way questioning whether the league’s punitive process is fundamentally fair. It also comes in the face of one of the NFL’s investigators stating her own suspension objections after weighing evidence in the case.

Yet even in the face of those concerns, Goodell has ridden out a litany of legal challenges and prevailed once again, bolstering a nebulous disciplinary process that may never be penetrated.

As it turns out, this NFL emperor not only has clothes, he’s got a legal suit of armor.

The NFLPA gave it to him in the collective-bargaining agreement, and now its players are paying for legal upgrades, too. That’s what is happening with Elliott, whose case may end up damaging the union.

What is left on the docket? The Dallas Cowboys’ star running back will ride out an expedited appeal through the U.S. Court of Appeals in the 2nd Circuit that is set to hear oral arguments on Dec. 1. Unless there is a miraculous revelation, Elliott is likely to lose his appeal. Even with a new panel of judges from the 2nd Circuit, it would be a stunning development to have the court ultimately determine that his appeal arguments were more worthy of a legal win than the simple injunction he was just denied.

And if (or when) Elliott suffers an appeals loss? His legal team could get extremely ambitious and attempt to secure a moonshot appearance before the U.S. Supreme Court, something New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady didn’t bother to try in deflate-gate. Getting the highest court in the land to hear Elliott’s case would be a monumental accomplishment as it would also be far outside of the norm. The Supreme Court typically takes cases that either have broad and sweeping implications or require a resolution for conflicting decisions from lower branches of federal court. Elliott’s collective-bargaining complaint meets neither standard.

Elliott may try anyway, but when those roads meet a dead end and he is left with no other options, the ripples will have already set in for the NFLPA. And those are this: His federal case and the precedent it helps solidify will be put down right next to Brady and Adrian Peterson – all of whom took the NFL to court over the CBA, and all of whom lost.

Ultimately, that will be three extremely strong pillars holding up Goodell’s power and the NFL’s ability to dictate justice in almost any manner. Each damaging in its own way. Peterson’s case illustrated to the NFL that it has latitude to discipline players as it sees fit; Brady’s case bolstered the league’s reliance on scant (and arguably circumstantial) evidence; and Elliott’s case brought both of those realities together in one legal battle.

The potentially damaging outcome for players might be even more severe due to Elliott’s case. For the first time, it showcased that the NFL can essentially run its own in-house investigation however it wants and still be protected by federal courts – so long as the league goes through its own arbitration process, which has also been painted as rigged. If that doesn’t illustrate the remarkable power that Goodell holds, nothing does.

Authorities decline to press charges against a player? Doesn’t matter. Not necessary in the NFL’s disciplinary realm. The in-house investigator says evidence doesn’t support a suspension? Doesn’t matter. That opinion can be overridden. The player and his legal team believe the investigation was butchered to the point of appearing to be conspiratorial? It turns out the longtime league-appointed arbitrator doesn’t have to weigh those arguments. The arbitrator needs to only see that the NFL went through an investigative process and gathered enough information to make a decision (any decision it wants, basically).

Without embellishment, that’s the level of power Goodell has risen to. Or rather, that’s the level of power Goodell was given. For all the talk about how terrible the last CBA was for players, there is little argument about this one part of it: The NFLPA made a grievous error in surrendering such wide-ranging and largely unchecked authority to Goodell.

The union knows it now. The players know it now. And for years, they’ve been trying to win back some of it in a courtroom, racking up millions in legal bills while simultaneously helping the NFL strengthen its position with legal wins.

All of that has taken this to the place it was always going. To a plateau where the NFL is able to run roughshod over players when it sees the disciplinary outcome it has to win. In domestic violence cases like Peterson and Elliott, it was fundamental to help erase some stains of the Ray Rice fiasco. In the case of Brady, it was instrumental in showing that no player is untouchable, particularly when the NFL is defied to the point of alleged evidence being destroyed or concealed.

In a handful of high-profile wins, the league has shown what it deems to be unacceptable. And more than ever, it has shown the lengths it will go to strike down players who challenge those standards. Some will argue those pursuits have been as rightful as they have been successful. Unquestionably, they’ve been legally fruitful. It takes only one look at the emperor’s suddenly impenetrable armor to recognize that.

The NFLPA gave this gift to Goodell. Then it spent millions in court losses strengthening it. Now the players will have to endure it.

 

[boozeman]

The players really aren't mentally equipped to use the power of a union properly and it shows.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Ezekiel Elliott fallout: Roger Goodell keeps on end-zone dancing all over players and they have themselves to blame

One by one, lawsuit by lawsuit, decision by decision, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is ascending to disciplinary emperor. And in the wake of the Ezekiel Elliott case, his reign over the players is looking more untouchable than ever.

For NFL players and their union, that’s the fallout from Thursday, when a federal appeals court in New York all but guaranteed Elliott will serve his six-game suspension for violating the league’s domestic violence policy. For Goodell and his legal department, the victory comes despite a few judges along the way questioning whether the league’s punitive process is fundamentally fair. It also comes in the face of one of the NFL’s investigators stating her own suspension objections after weighing evidence in the case.

Yet even in the face of those concerns, Goodell has ridden out a litany of legal challenges and prevailed once again, bolstering a nebulous disciplinary process that may never be penetrated.

As it turns out, this NFL emperor not only has clothes, he’s got a legal suit of armor.

The NFLPA gave it to him in the collective-bargaining agreement, and now its players are paying for legal upgrades, too. That’s what is happening with Elliott, whose case may end up damaging the union.

What is left on the docket? The Dallas Cowboys’ star running back will ride out an expedited appeal through the U.S. Court of Appeals in the 2nd Circuit that is set to hear oral arguments on Dec. 1. Unless there is a miraculous revelation, Elliott is likely to lose his appeal. Even with a new panel of judges from the 2nd Circuit, it would be a stunning development to have the court ultimately determine that his appeal arguments were more worthy of a legal win than the simple injunction he was just denied.

And if (or when) Elliott suffers an appeals loss? His legal team could get extremely ambitious and attempt to secure a moonshot appearance before the U.S. Supreme Court, something New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady didn’t bother to try in deflate-gate. Getting the highest court in the land to hear Elliott’s case would be a monumental accomplishment as it would also be far outside of the norm. The Supreme Court typically takes cases that either have broad and sweeping implications or require a resolution for conflicting decisions from lower branches of federal court. Elliott’s collective-bargaining complaint meets neither standard.

Elliott may try anyway, but when those roads meet a dead end and he is left with no other options, the ripples will have already set in for the NFLPA. And those are this: His federal case and the precedent it helps solidify will be put down right next to Brady and Adrian Peterson – all of whom took the NFL to court over the CBA, and all of whom lost.

Ultimately, that will be three extremely strong pillars holding up Goodell’s power and the NFL’s ability to dictate justice in almost any manner. Each damaging in its own way. Peterson’s case illustrated to the NFL that it has latitude to discipline players as it sees fit; Brady’s case bolstered the league’s reliance on scant (and arguably circumstantial) evidence; and Elliott’s case brought both of those realities together in one legal battle.

The potentially damaging outcome for players might be even more severe due to Elliott’s case. For the first time, it showcased that the NFL can essentially run its own in-house investigation however it wants and still be protected by federal courts – so long as the league goes through its own arbitration process, which has also been painted as rigged. If that doesn’t illustrate the remarkable power that Goodell holds, nothing does.

Authorities decline to press charges against a player? Doesn’t matter. Not necessary in the NFL’s disciplinary realm. The in-house investigator says evidence doesn’t support a suspension? Doesn’t matter. That opinion can be overridden. The player and his legal team believe the investigation was butchered to the point of appearing to be conspiratorial? It turns out the longtime league-appointed arbitrator doesn’t have to weigh those arguments. The arbitrator needs to only see that the NFL went through an investigative process and gathered enough information to make a decision (any decision it wants, basically).

Without embellishment, that’s the level of power Goodell has risen to. Or rather, that’s the level of power Goodell was given. For all the talk about how terrible the last CBA was for players, there is little argument about this one part of it: The NFLPA made a grievous error in surrendering such wide-ranging and largely unchecked authority to Goodell.

The union knows it now. The players know it now. And for years, they’ve been trying to win back some of it in a courtroom, racking up millions in legal bills while simultaneously helping the NFL strengthen its position with legal wins.

All of that has taken this to the place it was always going. To a plateau where the NFL is able to run roughshod over players when it sees the disciplinary outcome it has to win. In domestic violence cases like Peterson and Elliott, it was fundamental to help erase some stains of the Ray Rice fiasco. In the case of Brady, it was instrumental in showing that no player is untouchable, particularly when the NFL is defied to the point of alleged evidence being destroyed or concealed.

In a handful of high-profile wins, the league has shown what it deems to be unacceptable. And more than ever, it has shown the lengths it will go to strike down players who challenge those standards. Some will argue those pursuits have been as rightful as they have been successful. Unquestionably, they’ve been legally fruitful. It takes only one look at the emperor’s suddenly impenetrable armor to recognize that.

The NFLPA gave this gift to Goodell. Then it spent millions in court losses strengthening it. Now the players will have to endure it.

It's nothing but pure corruption in the NFL. The commissioner has been given the power to do anything he wants. Which means he at least has some level of control over who wins or loses games because he can arbitrarily pick and choose who plays or doesn't play in those games.

 

[Smitty]

It’s probably just me but that’s the way I see it. In order to overturn the Commissioner, the circumstances of the accusations that brought about the suspension will have to be ruled on as to whether they are true. If they are not then the Commissioners suspension is invalid. This isn’t a legal opinion rather an observation of the things in play.

The Commissioner's ability to suspend a player is the end result of the rulings, but the rulings have been mostly about what is the standard of evidence ("credible evidence shows..."), does the CBA require fairness, and if so, does suppressing evidence and not requiring the witness (whose word is the only evidence you have) to be subject to cross examination constitute such fairness or not.

All of the judges except the NY bitch found in favor of Elliott on those points. Where the Texas case got kicked out was because it was filed too early. Unfortunately, the league cheats and that was the Union's only ability to select a forum outside of NY. Unfortunately, the appeal judges from the Texas case, while sympathizing with Elliott on the merits, basically said "We can't turn this into a race of everyone trying to file before each other."

This most recent appeals court was simply unlikely to overturn the circuit court; their line of questioning really shows that they understood Elliott's argument better than the circuit court bitch judge. However, you are supposed to give GREAT deference to the lower judge's decision. The fact that she found ALL FOUR elements against Elliott means the NY Appeals Judges would have had to tell her she was wrong on all counts instead of telling her to tweak her argument. It was a bridge too far for them to completely overturn her like that.

Lesson: Not only does the disciplinary process need a complete overhaul in the next CBA, but there also needs to be a forum selection clause, or a clause stating that the NFL must announce in advance when it plans to release a decision, to allow the NFLPA to be ready to file an appeal within minutes like the league does.

Second lesson: The new disciplinary process needs to borrow from the federal rules of evidence. This "picking and choosing what evidence to count as credible, or even to listen to at all" that the commissioner has engaged in, is blatantly obviously wrong, and blatantly obviously designed to produce a result the league wants rather than a process the league wants.

 

[Smitty]

The players really aren't mentally equipped to use the power of a union properly and it shows.

I don't see how that follows. Elliott is as dumb as they come but his team made a winning argument that did in fact win in front of unbiased judges, until the league cheated and removed the case to NY where the Judges are in it's pocket.

 

[Smitty]

It's nothing but pure corruption in the NFL. The commissioner has been given the power to do anything he wants. Which means he at least has some level of control over who wins or loses games because he can arbitrarily pick and choose who plays or doesn't play in those games.

The problem with this article is that it declares Goodell has an impenetrable legal suit of armor now.

No.... he has that in the second circuit, ie, New York City.

Every other court he gets his ass handed to him.

I wonder why.

Like I said above, the next CBA has to have a forum selection clause. No more NFL releasing its decision and filing an appeal to certify within 3 minutes. I mean, how a judge can say that isn't cheating is beyond me. First of all, how the fuck can you even file a suit to "certify" your decision? It seems to me that is the definition of not having standing. You won. You haven't been aggrieved. You have no standing to sue. Case dismissed, fuckers.

 

[p1_]

One sure way to tell the league and Goodell to fuck off is to power through this with as much poise and guts as possible. We can go .500 I believe, perhaps better. 4-2 would be outstanding.

 

[boozeman]

Why Elliott didn't settle (video):

https://sports.yahoo.com/why-ezekiel-elliott-didn-t-230149711.html

Guess that was bullshit. He is dropping everything and taking it per Schefter.

 

[DLK150]

Guess that was bullshit. He is dropping everything and taking it per Schefter.

Yep. per DC.com, he's dropping the appeal and will serve the entire suspension. I think it's BS and sets a bad precedent but you can't fight city hall or in this case the almighty NFL.

http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/2017/11/15/ezekiel-elliott-reportedly-drops-appeal-will-serve-remaining-nfl-suspension