This Ray Rice situation reminds me a lot of the Sterling situation - this kind of crap, and worse, has been happening for a looooong time, but it takes something the public can see and hear to get real action. The real offense in the NFL's eyes isn't the actual behavior but tarnishing the league's brand in a very public way.
Better late than never on putting some real teeth on domestic violence penalties, though. It's been a problem for much too long (not just in the NFL, either).