I like how someone brought up guys like Jeramy Stevens, Leonard Little, Lawrence Phillips and the like... These guys were committing at least, if not far more egregious acts than what we're seeing with ADP and Rice. I don't believe one of the those three players I mentioned was suspended a single game. Was there a public outcry; nope. Back then, the bigger issues the league was facing in the public eye were the welfare and support of former players with medical problems and ensuring the competitive integrity of the game regarding incidents like spygate...
Since then, a lot of work has been put in and those particular issues, and for at least some part, they have been handled/contained. The NFL has instituted compensation for former players with lingering physical/mental issues and the league began to crack down on cheating.
Today's hot button topic in the media regarding the NFL is player conduct off the field, and cracking down on offenders, especially cases of domestic violence. This has been bubbling for a while, but when you have multiple high profile players getting busted for DV all within a small window of time, it's going to magnify the issue even more. I am against what AP and Rice did, but I'm not going to kid myself and pretend like the reaction would have been the same 15 years ago. These things would have worked their way through the courts, and that would likely be the end. IMO, AP and Rice will be the two primary players to fall on the NFL sword and "show" the league's serious about correcting this problem. New policies will be put in place, and over time, folks will remember this as just another obstacle the league overcame.
To throw out my own conspiracy theory, I don't why the NFL has any interest in HGH testing. Fans like the players bigger, meaner, faster and stronger. If players start getting busted and dropping like flies for doping (I'd be shocked if they didn't), the league's next major problem will be the integrity of the game based on PEDs. We all know they're being used and choose to turn a blind eye. What happens when that bubble bursts? Will 1995-2015 be remembered as the steroid era of the NFL?
Look at the MLB. The majority of fans turned a blind eye and were riveted by the home run chases, records falling and slugfests during the steroid era. Now, we look back at that time and those players as a black eye on the sport. I hope the NFL doesn't go the same way, but I'm afraid it could.