NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Jonathan Vilma, Will Smith and the NFL players union left little doubt they remain determined to challenge Commissioner Roger Goodell’s authority to suspend players in connection with the league’s bounty investigation of the New Orleans Saints.

Goodell ruled Tuesday that Vilma, a linebacker, would remain suspended for the season, while Smith, a defensive end, still would face a fourgame ban. The two players, among four who’ve been wrangling for months with the league, scoffed at the commissioner’s latest decision.

Vilma said on Twitter that the new ruling “is not news to me pride won’t let him admit he’s wrong.” Smith issued a statement saying he will continue to explore his appeal options.

Vilma’s attorney, Peter Ginsberg, said in a statement that Goodell’s new ruling “continues his previous grossly misplaced interpretation of the ‘evidence.’ What the Commissioner did today is not justice, nor just. The suspension has the fingerprints of lawyers trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.”

The stakes are now somewhat lower for defensive tackle Anthony Hargrove and Cleveland linebacker Scott Fujita. Hargrove’s suspension effectively stands at two games after Goodell reduced his eight-game ban to seven and gave him credit for five games missed while he was a free agent. Goodell lowered Fujita’s suspension from three games to one.

Hargrove and Fujita did not respond to requests for comment, but the NFL Players Association, which has been representing them, remained critical of Goodell’s decision to punish the players and the process by which he reached his decisions.

“For more than six months, the NFL has ignored the facts, abused the process outlined in our collective bargaining agreement and failed to produce evidence that the players intended to injure anyone, ever,” the said in a written statement. “The only evidence that exists is the League’s gross violation of fair due process, transparency and impartiality during this process. Truth and fairness have been the casualties of the league’s refusal to admit that it might have made a mistake.”

The players were implicated in what the NFL said was a bounty pool run by former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and paid improper cash bonuses for hits that injured opponents. The players have acknowledged a pool, but denied they intended to injure anyone.

Williams, now with St. Louis, has been suspended indefinitely. Saints head coach Sean Payton is serving a full season suspension, while general manager Mickey Loomis is suspended eight games and assistant head coach Joe Vitt six.

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