NFL commissioner: "It's never easy to take difficult positions"

The NFL is in damage control Wednesday, trying to contain the growing outrage over a video showing Ray Rice knocking out his future wife at an Atlantic City casino.

The former Baltimore Ravens running back was suspended indefinitely on Monday.

Yesterday, Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke to CBS News in his first interview since the upsetting video was posted online.

Also yesterday, Ray Rice's wife Janay posted an emotional statement on Instagram about the incident.

"It's never easy to take difficult positions," Goodell told CBS News. "But people expect that from us. The victim is never at fault here. That's not the issue. The issue here is Ray was a player in the NFL and he cannot engage in that kind of behavior."

Goodell said that before suspending Rice for two games, he met with the running back and his wife.

"I spoke to them before that," Goodell said. "I met with them probably a month before the decision. He indicated what he and Janay were doing as a couple to try to address their issues. It's a very difficult issue for families."

"What I'm learning about this whole issue of domestic violence is that it's very complicated, very difficult on families, there are victims, there are family members that are impacted by this," Goodell said. "And we have to have the resources necessary to try to help them. And what we wanted to do to make sure that he understood you have resources. And we still do that. We've been in touch with the family to make sure they have resources, in the last 24 hours."