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When we talked about the Daryl Washington situation right after his guilty plea to a felony 6 domestic violence charge, I postulated that, based on the history of the NFL we could see an eight-game ban for Washington with a possible reduction.
People thought I was nuts. Maybe I still am, but when the news came down about a year-long ban for Washington, many Cardinals fans decried that it was too much. I went the other way for three hours, saying it was a tough pill to swallow, but I was glad to see the NFL take action against domestic violence. Then the other shoe dropped and we learned that ban was yet again for substance abuse and Washington still had his date with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
Thursday the news came out that fellow domestic violence offender Ray Rice was suspended for two games in 2014 and the resulting outcry can only mean bad things for Daryl Washington.
While Washington's offense was not caught on camera as Rice's was, he was charged and pleaded guilty to a felony. Rice, after completion of a program, will have his charges completely dropped. With the current fallout for the Rice suspension and the fact that Washington's situation had a much worse legal result, Washington's pending personal conduct punishment may very well be much worse.
I'm not saying that I agree with Rice's suspension. I believe it should have been a minimum of eight games, but he is already being penalized more by his employer than by the state. While Goodell has always relished the role of judge, jury and executioner, he had to fly solo on this one... and he got it wrong.
For that, Daryl Washington may suffer more and in my opinion, that's not a bad thing.
As time goes by, we must wait and see what the local public reaction will be. If Washington is given a similar suspension, will there be a similar outcry from the fans? And if he is much harshly dealt with, will fans agree or will they then think that Goodell is being too heavy handed?
