James Brown did his best to save his network’s big night.

As For The Win‘s Chris Chase pointed out Thursday evening, the veteran host was in the untenable position of balancing the excitement of the inaugural Thursday Night Football broadcast on CBS with the gravity of the ongoing fallout from the Ray Rice situation.

The network decided Thursday afternoon to cancel an opening performance by Rihanna, a prior victim of domestic abuse herself, in favor of a more serious pregame tone. They didn’t have that ability when it came to the host team. So CBS handled the issue as best they could, reporting on the ongoing league aspect of the situation and then giving Brown the forum to deliver his brilliantly crafted statement.

While Rice’s specter remained all over MT&T Bank Stadium, his absence was at least an indication that a proper punishment was finally being doled out, no matter how booby-trapped (intentionally or not) the NFL’s path to that resolution proved to be. For as resonant as Brown’s message proved to be, any statement he, league officials, fellow players or any other broadcasters made on the subject would certainly have been undermined by having Rice on the sideline.

Unless something changes in the next nine days, NBC’s announcers and producers are going to have that exact predicament during next two Sunday night games. Sam Francisco 49ers defensive end Ray McDonald suits up this week as his team hosts Chicago, but the real test will come in Week 3 when Pro Bowl defensive end Greg Hardy’s Carolina Panthers host the Pittsburgh Steelers.

There is no incriminating video of a May incident between Hardy and his ex-girlfriend, which is probably why the Panthers star is still playing despite being found guilty by a North Carolina district judge of assault. Unlike McDonald, who was arrested but has yet to be charged for a recent incident with his pregnant fiancee, Hardy was convicted and sentenced for his crime. He’s currently awaiting a jury trial after appealing the decision, but it’s hard to argue that he’s entitled to any further due process from the league after the initial verdict.

Unless the league decides to suspend Hardy between Week 2 and Week 3, he’ll be in front of a national audience as the Panthers host the Steelers at Bank of America Stadium. The last time he had such a primetime platform he was memorably bombastic.

During a Week 14 game last December against New Orleans, the Pro Bowl defensive end wore sunglasses during the traditional player introductions, introducing himself by his nickname “Kraken” and insisting that he went to “Hogwarts,” the school from the Harry Potter books. It was funny at the time, something you’d expect from a guy who predicted prior to the season that he’d amass 50 sacks in the coming year.

That kind of stunt would generate grimaces now.

With Rice now in seclusion, Hardy now becomes the most visible domestic abuser in the NFL. Unlike Rice, Hardy hasn’t admitted any wrongdoing in his own incident, only apologizing this past July for being a distraction to his teammates.

If the league or the Panthers aren’t going to move swiftly to punish Hardy under the new domestic violence policy that Goodell announced several weeks ago, there needs to be more outside pressure on them to do so.

Here’s an idea for Bob Costas if Hardy is still on the field in Week 3. During the usual halftime segment where he often devotes a few minutes to speak about an issue affecting the NFL, Costas should just read the domestic violence protective order filed by Hardy’s ex-girlfriend after the incident aloud.

“Greg Hardy attacked me in his apartment. Hardy picked me up and threw me into the tile tub area in his bathroom. I have bruises from head to toe, including my head, neck, back, shoulders, arms, legs, elbow and feet. Hardy pulled me from the tub by my hair, screaming at me that he was going to kill me, break my arms and other threats that I completely believe. He drug me across the bathroom and out into the bedroom. Hardy choked me with both hands around my throat while I was lying on the floor. Hardy picked me up over his head and threw me onto a couch covered in assault rifles and/or shotguns. I landed on those weapons. Hardy bragged that all of those assault rifles were loaded. Landing on those weapons bruised my neck and back. Hardy screamed for his administrative assistant (Sammy Curtis) to come into the room and hold me down. Hardy and Curtis then took me into the living room area. I wasn’t nearly strong or fast enough to escape. I begged them to let me go and I wouldn’t tell anyone what he did. They took me out into the hall, pushed me down and went back inside his apartment. I crawled to the elevator and ran into CMPD.”

It might not be a video, but it would certainly make a pretty loud statement.