Written by: Shane Thomas

Video of former Baltimore Raven running back Ray Rice dragging his unconscious wife out of an Atlantic City, New Jersey elevator was good for a two-game suspension.

The knockdown leading to the drag-out got him banned indefinitely.

On Monday, the now-infamous video surfaced showing Rice knocking out his then-fiancée Janay Palmer in an elevator.

In addition to the NFL swiftly suspending Rice, the Ravens terminated Rice’s contract and Nike cut ties with Rice.

How does seeing the full video change anything? Apparently, it changes everything.

In July, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell elected to suspend Rice for two games for violating the league’s personal conduct policy following Rice’s arrest for domestic violence.

In 2010 when Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was involved in sexual assault allegations on a 20-year-old college student, Roethlisberger was never arrested or charged for any crime and the NFL was ready to suspend Roethlisberger for six games. After appealing, Roethlisberger was only banned for four games.

Many are questioning the league’s suddenly more decisive stance on the Rice video, and with good reason.

According to a report Wednesday by CNN, the NFL and the Baltimore Ravens never saw the full video of the incident until Monday.

Since Rice was arrested for domestic violence in February, why did the NFL never obtain the video to do its own investigation?

The NFL developed a new domestic violence policy stating any offense would result in a six-game suspension.

By their own premise, Rice should have had his suspension increased to six games. Not only did the NFL not increase the suspension, they contradicted themselves by suspending Rice indefinitely instead of the six games the policy calls for.

The NFL prides itself in being the big dog, but all it’s doing is chasing its tail.