While the NFL drowns in a flurry of speculation about who in the league office saw the Ray Rice tape and when, another domestic violence crisis grows ever more pressing.

Carolina Panthers defensive lineman Greg Hardy was declared guilty by a North Carolina judge of assaulting his former girlfriend, Nicole Holder, in an incident that allegedly involved hair-pulling, slamming a toilet seat on her arm, and putting his hands around her neck. While he awaits the next step in his legal process, a jury trial, Hardy played in the team's season-opening game last weekend, and is scheduled to play this Sunday.

Hardy had an excused absence from Panthers practice Wednesday, but is expected to be available for Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions, coach Ron Rivera told reporters in a conference call. In an email to Yahoo Sports, Panthers director of communications Charlie Dayton said Hardy’s appeal "is part of the legal process in the state" and the jury trial begins with a presumption of innocence.

On Wednesday night, Panthers owner Jerry Richardson tearfully defended himself and his franchise at an awards dinner in his honor – an event that commissioner Roger Goodell reportedly cancelled out of.

"I stand firmly against domestic violence, plain and simple,” Richardson said. “To those who would suggest that we've been too slow to act, I ask that you consider not to be too quick to judge. Over the course of our 20 years, we have worked extremely hard to build an organization of integrity.”

Richardson was given an “award against indifference” on Wednesday, but indifference is what’s coming through. The league has frozen when confronted with red flags, rather than acting proactively in response to a clear warning. Doing nothing, as the Baltimore Ravens chose and as the Panthers are choosing, is not enough. Not anymore.

That's painfully clear in a letter Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti sent to season-ticket holders and sponsors on Tuesday. He began by saying the people of Baltimore "deserve an explanation," and yet he didn't provide one.

"Why didn't we act earlier?" is the right question, but it's never answered. Here is the key paragraph:

"In March, the prosecutor dropped the case against Janay [Palmer], but elevated the charge against Ray from simple assault to aggravated assault. At this point, we decided to defer action until completion of the court proceedings. We stopped seeking to view or obtain a copy of the video. We halted our fact-finding. That was a mistake on our part."

So why did the Ravens defer action until completion of the court proceedings? Why the paralysis?

View photos Jerry Richardson (R), with commish Roger Goodell, defended his team on Wednesday. (Getty Images) More

The charge against Rice was elevated. It had been simple assault, which is often related to an altercation and charged as a misdemeanor. It turned into aggravated assault, which is classified in all states as a felony and often involves a deadly weapon or a serious injury.

Is it a guilty verdict? No. But it certainly is a tell that something terrible happened in the elevator at that casino. Goodell told CBS' Norah O'Donnell that Rice's version of the events in the elevator was "ambiguous." This elevation of a charge is not ambiguous. It means something potentially felonious happened to Palmer. That should have been enough reason to take a precautionary step: keep the arrested player off the field without cutting him or his pay. In the post-Ray Rice world, that’s a step that teams like the Panthers should be taking.

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