Bill Cowher: NFL inconsistent with discipline, needs uniform guidelines

As controversy surrounds how the National Football League handled the Ray Rice domestic violence incident, some have focused attention on why the league or the coaches don't hold their players to a higher standard.

"There's been a lot of inconsistency with the discipline that's been out there," former player and Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher said Monday on "CBS This Morning."

"But I will say this -- Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, you're getting desired results. They're being taken off the football field because that is the only deterrent you're going have to these players."

Baltimore Ravens' Ray Rice was indefinitely suspended after a second video surfaced showing him punching his then-fiancee in the face, while Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was deactivated for one game after he was charged with child abuse. Peterson was reinstated Monday.

The National Football League hired former FBI director Robert Mueller III to conduct a probe into the NFL's handling of the events surrounding Ray Rice, while critics have called for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to resign.

"To me the bottom line is, let's just make sure we get some kind of uniform guidelines because that's what's missing right now in the NFL," Cowher said about the investigation.

NFL team owners John Mara and Art Rooney are overseeing the investigation, and Cowher said the results should determine whether Goodell should resign.

"These are two owners who are family-based. They have actually gone through three commissioners, Pete Rozelle, Paul Tagliabue and now Roger Goodell. So they will put the NFL first," Cowher said.

Cowher said in this transparent world, football players have to be very careful about where they go, who they're with and where they're seen.

"In the National Football League, it is a privilege. If you can't give that up, it's not for everybody, get another job," Cowher said. "But if you're going to come into the National Football League, accept the responsibilities that go with it. You're a role model no matter what they say because that's the platform you're on."