Josh Brown's letters admitting to domestic violence are now haunting the NFL

Antonio Brown was fined by the NFL for twerking after a touchdown last month. Josh Gordon was suspended for a year in 2014 for smoking pot. And the league recently sent a secret memo to teams, telling them they'd be fined up to $100,000 for tweeting highlights during games.

Those examples and more show why the NFL's dubious approach to discipline and rule enforcement so often elicit snark and scorn from media, fans and players alike.

Now we have the heinous case of New York Giants kicker Josh Brown, who received a suspension of just one game prior to this season, following allegations of serial domestic violence against his now-former wife. He'd recently signed a $4 million contract.

It was a bad look for the Giants and for the league then. It's a downright awful look now, after revelations that Brown previously admitted to abusing his former wife -- writing, among other things, that "I viewed myself as God basically and she was my slave."

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All of this unfolds as Brown's Giants team readies to feature in a showcase event for the NFL, taking on the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday before an international audience at Twickenham Stadium in London. Meanwhile, the NFL is facing a ratings crisis this season, two years after the league and its commissioner, Roger Goodell, became national sources of outrage for how they handle instances of domestic violence committed by NFL players.

"A lot of times there's a tendency to try to make these cases black and white," Giants owner John Mara said in August, when the initial reports of alleged abuse by Brown arose, and the team and league were criticized for not handling them more decisively. "They are very rarely black and white."

But, according to documents reported by NJ.com and other outlets Wednesday, Brown admitted to abusing his former wife. Multiple times. In writing, and in stomach-churning terms.

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"I have been a liar for most of my life," Brown wrote in a March 2014 letter to friends, according to NJ.com, which obtained the documents from a police investigation of Brown in the Seattle area.

"I viewed myself as God basically and she was my slave," Brown reportedly wrote of his then-wife in that same letter.

But there's more, too.

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Brown (3) celebrates after kicking a game-winning field goal for the Giants on Sept. 18 of this year.Credit: Seth Wenig/AP

A journal entry reportedly written by Brown in 2013 reads: "I have physically, mentally, emotionally and verbally been a repulsive man ... I have abused my wife."

Another piece of evidence reportedly obtained from the police investigation features Brown's wife writing in a journal entry of her own that the NFL player "pushes, shoves hits me because I challenge him" and "says women like me get hit because we can't shut up."

On Sept. 18, in his first game back from the one-game suspension handed down before this season began, Brown kicked a game-winning field goal for the Giants.

NFL says it will reopen Brown case after shameful history with domestic violence

Goodell has been widely criticized over the past three seasons.Credit: Andy Clayton-King/AP

After video emerged at the dawn of the 2014 NFL season of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice decking his fiancee in a hotel elevator, the league faced a firestorm of criticism for its handling of domestic violence.

That December, the NFL announced a new domestic policy that mandated "a suspension without pay of six games for a first offense." But it also included a potential backdoor in the form of a subsequent qualifier that first-time offenders would also be given "consideration ... to mitigating factors."

SEE ALSO:NFL player ___________ arrested on domestic violence charges

As ESPN.com reported in August, Brown's suspension at the beginning of this season for one game instead of six was due to those "mitigating factors." In Brown's case, ESPN reported, the league said his former wife declined to speak to investigators and that police would not share information about alleged instances of abuse with NFL officials.

Brown's suspension this season stemmed from a May 2015 arrest for domestic violence. His ex-wife reportedly told police he'd physically abused her more than 20 times over a period of several years. But formal charges were only levied in May 2015 for one such instance and were later dropped.

The NFL now says it will reopen its investigation of Brown after news broke of his writings about spousal abuse.

"In light of the release of these documents yesterday, we will thoroughly review the additional information and determine next steps in the context of the NFL Personal Conduct Policy," a NFL statement released Thursday read in part. "We will not be making any comments on potential discipline until that time."

Tweet may have been deleted

The NFL and its teams don't exactly have a sterling reputation for transparency when it comes to enforcement and disciplinary issues, however -- as evidenced, among other instances, by a September 2014 ESPN investigation about how the Rice case was handled.

It all -- as pointed out by Seth Walder of the New York Daily News-- makes an August exchange between a reporter and Mara, the Giants owner, worth noting.

Q: There was a letter that said that Josh admitted to abuse against his wife. Were you aware of that? Did you look into that?

A: Jordan, all I can tell you is that we are aware of all the allegations and, I believe, all of the facts and circumstances and we were comfortable with our decision to re-sign him.

Now here we are. Brown looks like a monster, a serial abuser with a new $4 million contract. The Giants and the NFL look incompetent, at best. They look willfully deceitful, at worst.

And now the Giants prepare for the league's international showcase on Sunday at Twickenham Stadium in England. Brown won't make the trip across the Atlantic, the team announced late Thursday.

Still, you've got to hand the NFL this much: It's certainly giving Londoners a full look at all it has to offer.

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