EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. _ The righteous and rightful outrage over the NFL's handling of Ray Rice's domestic violence incident shook the league to its core. This much is indisputable.
Commissioner Roger Goodell's incomprehensible and indefensible initial decision to levy a mere two-game suspension to a man caught on video assaulting his then-fiancee would ultimately change the NFL forever. The league finally formulated a response to the growing cries for action in the face of the societal scourge seemingly rampant among its players, revamping its personal conduct policy to include codified, stringent procedures and penalties for cases involving domestic violence.
This week, those ripples were felt at the Giants, when the team and the league announced kicker Josh Brown will serve a one-game suspension in accordance with the new personal conduct rules. Brown will be banned from all team activities in the week leading up to and including the Sept. 11 season opener at Dallas, the price for a May 2015 incident with his now ex-wife in which he was charged with a fourth degree domestic violence misdemeanor _ a charge dismissed by the local district attorney five days later. The kicker, who had released a statement Wednesday, spoke with reporters for about six minutes after practice Thursday.
"First of all, I'm not going to go into detail about anything," Brown said. "My major concern is my three kids, and the things that are put out there, and the things that are being said. Like everybody's aware of, this moment happened over a year ago. The case was dropped five days after the moment happened, and we've moved forward with our lives at this point. While I'm not OK with the decision, I have to respect it.
"I look forward to a 15-game season and moving forward with my teammates."
Brown referred more than once to the "moment" that led to the charge, one detailed on nj.com as him grabbing his estranged wife's wrist during an argument at their Washington home. He was trying to make a point that he is not on the level of a Ray Rice or serial abuser Greg Hardy, but still, he must find a way to accept that any moment of crossing the line into physical control, no matter how small, is simply unacceptable.
Even more, he should embrace the opportunity to teach his fellow NFL colleagues that one "moment" can indeed change the course of a life, robbing someone not simply of money (Brown will lose over $72,000, his weekly game check) but of something more valuable. Reputation.
And fellow players should be paying attention, because Brown's case is more the norm, precisely because it is not on par with exile-worthy criminality of a Rice or a Hardy, but is punish-worthy just the same. While Brown may feel like this is an NFL overreaction, he is a direct byproduct of decisions that for so long specialized in under-reaction. Or worse, willful ignorance.
That had to change.
Slowly, perhaps, it is.
In a nutshell, Brown's case serves as an example of how the system we all asked for did what it was supposed to.
1. Brown was involved in an incident.
2. He told his bosses with the Giants.
3. The team then reported it to the league.
4. The league opened an investigation.
5. The league issued a penalty, believing the facts of the case warranted it.
6. Brown appealed, as per his rights under the policy.
7. The league denied the appeal and Brown was suspended.
In the past, the NFL did not include step No. 4, deferring instead to the legal system. Hindsight taught them what a mistaken approach that was, when private sources discovered and released the Rice video, one the NFL could have had if it had only tried hard enough, one that would have surely led to more than that insulting two-game suspension. Now, the policy explicitly states that the outcome of the legal proceedings do not necessarily factor into what the NFL decides, which is why Brown was subject to the suspension even after his charge was dismissed.
"We've exhausted everything that the NFL allows," Brown said. "We're not going to do anything else, we'll take it for what it is, take the one game and move on."
For first-year Giants head coach Ben McAdoo, this is also a learning experience, a living reminder that being a head coach differs from being an assistant in far more ways than designing plays or setting schedules. McAdoo's admission he wasn't told about the impending suspension until after his promotion from offensive coordinator to head coach is plenty of evidence of how much more responsibility is on the head coach's shoulders.
And in light of a previous interview in which the coach expressly stated a no-tolerance policy for domestic violence, he also had to stand and answer for his willingness to stand by Brown. The team signed Brown to a new two-year contract in April.
"We support the league office in their decision and their stance on personal conduct," McAdoo said Thursday. "I do support Josh as a man, a father, and a player. We treat these situations on a case-by-case basis.
"My stance stays the same. I'm a father, I'm a husband, and my stance on personal conduct stays the way it is. Stays consistent, and it stays strong. But I think it's important for an organization and the locker room to take it on a case-by-case basis."
Since the Rice incident, and ensuing ugliness involving players such as Hardy or Adrian Peterson, who faced child abuse charges, the NFL has been trying to move forward out of its own dark ages. Past mistakes made Goodell and Co. an easy and deserving target. All of that is why it's both important and necessary to take a moment and digest what we witnessed this week: A new policy in action, working to effect discipline. We can only hope it effects change as well.
