Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott officially is suspended by the NFL after a federal judge in New York rejected his motion for a preliminary injunction.
Judge Katherine Failla of the Southern District of New York said Elliott and his NFL Players Association legal team failed to demonstrate a substantial question warranting the extraordinary remedy of injunctive relief.
Moreover, the court ruled the NFL was fair in its investigation and arbitration process per the terms of the collective bargaining agreement and the league's personal conduct policy.
Elliott has 24 hours to file an emergency appeal.
What it means now is that Elliott must immediately begin serving his suspension while the full case plays out in the Southern District Court.
Elliott will now miss games against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Atlanta Falcons, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Los Angeles Chargers, the Washington Redskins and the New York Giants.
He'll be eligible to return Dec. 17 against the Oakland Raiders.
It's a huge setback for the Cowboys (4-3), who have won two consecutive games after a disappointing 2-3 start, especially with the 2016 NFL leading rusher seemingly finding his groove.
Elliott, who ranks third in the league in rushing with 690 yards, had a career-high 33 carries for 150 yards in Sunday's 33-19 victory against the Washington Redskins. It was his third consecutive 100-yard game and third career game over 150 yards.
This case and fallout are far from over.
It will get even more intense with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who believes the NFL should get out of the investigation business and leave that to the court system.
Elliott was never arrested or charged in the case as the Columbus (Ohio) city attorney cited inconsistent and misleading testimony, yet the NFL believes it has evidence of three instances of domestic violence when it made its initial decision to suspend Elliott on Aug. 11.
"What is important is that he gets a fair shake," Jones has said. "Zeke has in no way by any standard in this country done anything wrong. He's done nothing wrong. I want him to get a fair shot. He deserves that.
"We don't have the system in place for this. We tried to make one up in a few short months and it's got too many ways to not be fair for a person like Zeke. I know this, we have a pretty good system in place in this country, it's called the legal system. It has a lot of precedents and it's made a lot of mistakes but it's the best one in the world, in my view. For us to not basically recognize that, that's a concern."
Sports on 10/31/2017