[jwplayer dAxmZRcc-ThvAeFxT]

During Tom Brady’s Deflategate appeal process in court, the words “judge, jury and executioner” were tossed around by a lawyer defending Tom Brady.

The lawyer was talking about Roger Goodell. Among his many roles, Goodell is indeed the NFL’s judge, jury and executioner.

The Cowboys and Ezekiel Elliott should know this by now. It’s why the league’s rushing leader in 2016 could lose every step of the appeal process — particularly the ones in court.

When Brady lost his legal battle with Goodell over Deflategate in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the NFL set a significant precedent against the union in favor of Goodell’s absolute power. And perhaps that’s why he acts like the league’s dictator.

Sure, he’s on a contract. Sure, his job relies upon pleasing the owners. The dictator comparison is flawed in some ways. But the owners — Cowboys owner Jerry Jones included — signed Goodell to a contract extension. So from the players’ perspective, Goodell is man with absolute power, emboldened by the owners. Only outright rebellion (in the form of a work stoppage) would create any hope of upending that power. In the meantime, the players are powerless against him.

So here we are again. A player believes he has been unfairly punished and wrongfully accused. Now, to be clear, domestic abuse is illegal — the act is deplorable. If Elliott committed domestic abuse (he was not criminally charged), he deserves much worse than a six-game suspension. Deflating footballs and domestic abuse are not transgressions worth comparing. But the legal battle that’s about to ensue will be.

Goodell suspended Elliott under the league’s personal conduct policy — not the domestic abuse policy, which is a set six-game suspension upon conviction of the crime. By choosing the conduct policy, Goodell allowed himself to give Elliott six games (a precedent he’s trying to set) without having to prove Elliott did or did not commit domestic abuse. So even if Elliott can prove he did not commit abuse, Goodell can still punish him for a conduct violation, and he can give him the same penalty he would to a convicted domestic abuser: six games.

Elliott’s legal battle accuses Goodell of conducting conspiracy against him. But Goodell is essentially allowed to conduct conspiracy. Got a problem with the investigation? Doesn’t matter. Goodell decides how that investigation will be conducted and who will conduct it.

Goodell is allowed his “own brand of justice,” as Judge Richard Berman feared would be reinforced by a court decision in Goodell’s favor. To combat that, Berman ruled in favor of Brady in district court before the appellate court reversed that decision. The commissioner prescribes the punishment, reviews it and rubber-stamps it. He doesn’t have to abide by the legality of “fundamental fairness,” which is a something Elliott’s legal party may hammer in court.

“But arbitration is a different animal,” sports law expert and attorney Daniel Wallach, who ultimately thinks Elliot’s chances are more favorable than Brady’s, wrote on his legal blog. “It is a less formal process than a court case, and the rules of evidence are not rigidly applied.”

Goodell is a Neo in “The Matrix.” He can bend the world to favor his vigilantism.

It all comes down to Article 46 in the CBA. The 1,300-word passage seems harmless enough. It allows Goodell to punish players and appoint the arbitrator (or be the arbitrator himself in some occasions). Goodell and Goodell’s arbitrators have reduced suspensions in the past (see: Vontaze Burfict, Le’Veon Bell). But Goodell is more likely to hold firm on this decision.

“That authority has been recognized by many courts and has been expressly incorporated into every collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and NFLPA for the past 40 years,” the league said in a statement after the appellate court ruled in Goodell’s favor in the Deflategate trial.

Zeke is going to serve a suspension, whether he deserves it or not.