Goodell won the Ray Rice thing. People think the judge scolded him, but they aren’t seeing the long game. Goodell knew that whenever he reinstated Rice it would be “too soon” to some people (some very loud people), so he didn’t bother to reinstate him. Eventually a judge (woman judge no less, Goodell leads a charmed life) reinstated Rice, thus taking it out of Goodell’s hands, and nobody can blame him for the punishment being too light. And meanwhile Rice is not currently signed with any team. Every chip fell the perfect way for Goodell.
Goodell had no interest in suspending Ray Rice indefinitely.