NFL has done everything in their power to force Ezekiel Elliott to serve his six-game suspension over alleged domestic violence case from 2016. Even the authorities concluded that there isn’t enough evidence for them to bring charges against this man, the league pursued this matter in an investigation that lasted for more than a year.
After long and hard legal battle Zeke decided that he will not appeal anymore and that he will serve his suspension. The statement that was given by the agent of the star running back of Dallas Cowboys, clearly says that this is not a confession of any wrongdoing. Latest appeal was dropped as both legal team, and Elliott came to “a practical assessment of the current legal landscape” and that it would be best for everyone just to close this case.
This case showed that Roger Goodell power in the league is pretty much intact as the NFL managed to win in a court against another player. Elliott and his team succeeded to postpone the suspension for half of the season, but the final decision is that he needs to sit out six games. Similar happened to Tom Brady in the deflate-gate scandal. It looks like that Goodell has the unlimited power that has been issued by players with the collective-bargaining agreement that is currently set.
It was pretty obvious that suspension will be instated at some point, but it comes in quite a difficult moment for the most valuable sport franchise in the world. They are three wins behind Eagles and will be facing them without Elliott on Sunday night. As the lead rusher in previous season served one game, he will be getting back to the field for the second-to-last duel.
Dallas, without Zeke, was destroyed by Falcons (27-7), but he wasn’t the only player that was missed as both linebacker Sean Lee and left tackle Tyron Smith were out for this one. Instead of Elliott, we could see Alfred Morris that had decent numbers with 53 yards on 11 carries, but still, he is not as dominant as Elliott.
It is a good question if the America’s Team can stay on route to playoff without their star RB. In the next rounds, they will be facing Philadephia, Chargers and Washington at home, and Giants and Oakland away. Only good thing about all this is the fact that court battle is over.
