SHERMAN, Texas _ Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott will play against the New York Giants on Sunday at AT&T Stadium.
Elliott was suspended by the NFL without pay for six games on Aug. 11 for violating the league's personal conduct policy.
A hearing on a temporary injunction to block Elliott's suspension until the case is decided in court lasted more than two hours in Sherman, Texas on Tuesday evening. A ruling isn't expected until Friday. Still, Elliott will be allowed to stay and play with the Cowboys until Tuesday.
Also late Tuesday evening, arbitrator Harold Henderson upheld the league's six-game suspension following last week's appeals hearing in New York. His suspension for allegedly committed domestic violence against former girlfriend Tiffany Thompson is set to begin next week.
"We received Arbitrator Harold Henderson's decision to uphold Mr. Elliott's suspension of six games," Elliott responded in a statement from his lawyers. "We are extremely disappointed with Mr. Henderson's inability to navigate through league politics, and follow the evidence and, most importantly, his conscience. The evidence that Mr. Elliott and his team presented on appeal clearly demonstrated that Mr. Elliott was the victim of a conspiracy orchestrated by the National Football League and its officers to keep exonerating evidence from the decision-makers, including the advisors and Roger Goodell. The only just decision was to overturn the suspension in its entirety. Mr. Elliott is looking forward to having his day in federal court where the playing field will be level and the NFL will have to answer for its unfair and unjust practices."
Henderson was direct in his ruling.
"In a case involving violation of a policy, fair and consistent means whether the process and result were in compliance with the terms of that policy. This one is, in every respect," Henderson told ESPN's Adam Shefter.
Whether Elliott has his day in federal court will be decided by United States Eastern District Judge Amos Mazzant on Friday when he will render a decision on whether to grant an injunction to block the suspension and hear the case.
But Elliott will be on the field for the season opener against the Giants because Henderson did not make his decision on the appeal before 3 p.m. Tuesday.
Elliott will be eligible to practice and play with the Cowboys until Sept. 12, regardless of the decision on the injunction.
If the injunction is denied, Elliott will be suspended from Weeks 2-8 and won't be eligible to return until the Nov. 5 game against the Kansas City Chiefs. It means he will miss games against the Denver Broncos (away), Arizona Cardinals (away), Los Angeles Rams (home), Green Bay Packers (home), San Francisco 49ers (away) and Washington Redskins (away). The Cowboys have a bye the weekend of Oct. 15
Elliott, however, left the hearing before a packed courthouse of reporters, lawyers and Cowboys fans in Sherman, Texas, roughly 65 miles north of Dallas, with renewed hope of maybe being heard in court.
Elliott's argument, made by NFLPA lawyer Jeffrey Kessler, was that the arbitration process was not fair because of procedural errors made by Henderson when he denied requests for Thompson to testify, the investigative notes of lead investigation Kia Roberts and for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to be compelled to testify.
NFL lawyer Daniel Nash argued that Henderson's decisions were grounded in and consistent with the rules of the league's collective bargaining agreement with the players.
"It's for NFL arbitrator to decide," Nash said, while using previous cases with New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in Deflategate and former Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson's child abuse case.
But Mazzant questioned the league's point and Henderson's decisions, saying he didn't see the Brady and Peterson cases having the same facts.
He also accused the NFL of minimizing the impact of Roberts and how she was removed from the process and before the initial decision despite being the only person to interview all 26 witnesses in the case, including Thompson six times.
Roberts didn't find Thompson to be credible and said there was not enough evidence to warrant discipline, yet her notes were not in the final investigative report and she was barred from a meeting with Goodell when a final decision was rendered.
That Thompson was not asked to testify was also questioned by Mazzant because of the NFL's policy that states when a player has not been arrested or charged there must be credible evidence to render a suspension.
"These are a series of events I can't ignore," Mazzant said.
If an injunction is granted, Elliott might stay on the field for the entire season and the legal ramifications could play out all year in court.
