Two days after a graphic video surfaced showing the star running back Ray Rice knocking out his fiancée, N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell continued to scramble to get ahead of the brewing controversy about whether he had seen the video before suspending the player for two games.
Late Wednesday night, Goodell said that he asked Robert S. Mueller III, the former F.B.I. director, to conduct an independent investigation into the league’s “pursuit and handling of evidence in the Ray Rice domestic violence incident.”
John Mara, the co-owner of the Giants, and Art Rooney II of the Steelers, who are both lawyers, will oversee the investigation, the final results of which will be made public. Goodell said Mueller, who was director of the F.B.I. for 12 years, will have access to all N.F.L. records.
The N.F.L took a similar step last year when it hired Ted Wells, a prominent lawyer, to look into reports of persistent bullying in the Miami Dolphins’ locker room.
Mueller’s report, though, is unlikely to quell the immediate calls by women’s advocacy groups for Goodell to resign. Earlier Wednesday, Goodell sent a letter to team owners and presidents reiterating that the league had not seen video of what transpired in an elevator between Rice and Janay Palmer, now his wife, until it was made public by the website TMZ on Monday.
Yet The Associated Press reported Wednesday that a law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigation, sent the footage to an N.F.L. executive months ago, before Goodell suspended Rice.
“We have no knowledge of this,” Greg Aiello, an N.F.L. spokesman, said in a statement. “We are not aware of anyone in our office who possessed or saw the video before it was made public on Monday. We will look into it.”
In July, Goodell disciplined Rice, who played for the Baltimore Ravens, with a two-game suspension for being accused of assaulting Palmer, a penalty widely criticized as too lenient. In a rare mea culpa in August, Goodell acknowledged that he had mishandled the Rice case and announced that he would toughen the league’s policy on domestic violence.
But more graphic footage of the altercation emerged Monday, prompting the Ravens to release Rice and the league to suspend him indefinitely.
“Our longstanding policy in matters like this — where there is a criminal investigation being directed by law enforcement and prosecutors — is to cooperate with law enforcement and take no action to interfere with the criminal justice system,” Goodell wrote in the letter.
He added: “As always, we will continuously examine our procedures. I believe that we took a significant step forward with the enhanced policies on domestic violence and sexual assault that were announced last month.”
But as he tried to explain his reasoning and quell the controversy, Goodell also had to fend off calls for him to step down from the most prominent and lucrative job in sports. Earlier Wednesday, the president of a powerful women’s group called for Goodell to resign for mishandling the league’s policy on domestic violence.
“The N.F.L. has lost its way,” said Terry O’Neill, the president of the National Organization for Women. “It doesn’t have a Ray Rice problem; it has a violence against women problem.”
O’Neill also called for the league to appoint an independent investigator to gather data about domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking in the N.F.L. community and to recommend reforms.
“The N.F.L. sets the example for college, high school, middle school and even elementary school football programs,” she said. “And the example it is setting right now is simply unacceptable.”
Shaunna Thomas, co-founder of the women’s group UltraViolet, echoed O’Neill’s sentiments.
“We believe it’s time for the N.F.L., as a cultural force and league of role models, to make drastic changes to address a culture of ambivalence towards violence against women,” she said.
Politicians also lashed out at the league. Twelve members of the House Judiciary Committee sent Goodell a letter calling on him to fully address the problem of domestic violence in the league. The representatives said the league had not been clear about how it requested the video of Rice from law enforcement officials, or why it did not seek to obtain the video from other sources.
“We therefore urge greater transparency and explanations of these matters,” they said.
Goodell said in an interview on “CBS This Morning” that he was accustomed to criticism and that he had no plans to leave his position.
“Every day I have to, to do a better job,” he said. “And that’s my responsibility to the game, to the N.F.L., and to what I see as society. People expect a lot from the N.F.L. We accept that.”
Team owners, including Robert K. Kraft of the Patriots and Mara, stood by Goodell.
“We have all learned a valuable lesson from this episode,” Mara said in a statement. “We now have a strong partnership with anti-domestic violence groups, and we will be a better league for it going forward.”
He added, “The notion that the league should have gone around law enforcement to obtain the video is, in my opinion, misguided, as is the notion that the commissioner’s job is now in jeopardy.”
Despite the backlash, sports experts said the league’s owners were unlikely to remove Goodell, which would require the approval of 24 out of 32 owners. The league has prospered immensely since Goodell became commissioner in 2006.
“Clearly, the N.F.L. has this incredible popularity that’s made them the money machine that they are,” said Richard Lapchick, the director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. “There’s been a lot of pressure and a lot of things that haven’t been positive in terms of public perception. Hopefully, this kind of thing can sustain the discussion about domestic violence.”