Vick Under Different Kind of Pressure

That is not to trivialize the serious off-field issues that Vick and his defense team face. In a statement released Tuesday evening, the league termed dogfighting "cruel, degrading and illegal," and it is certainly all that and perhaps more. But for every extracurricular indiscretion in the NFL, no matter how unsavory, there is an undeniable football component.

And the football component for the Atlanta Falcons right now, discounting all the ancillary ramifications, is whether or not Vick can continue to be a viable player and a leader for the team. Can the man who is already a lightning rod, and figures to be even more so now, even play at a functional level in the face of what lies ahead? Or should the Falcons, no matter the legal timeline upcoming, suggest he take a leave of absence?

The latter option may be discussed, but don't bet on it occurring.

A person who spoke with Vick at length after the indictments were announced said that the quarterback was "devastated" by the news. Whether those feelings were feigned or not, we can't say, because we weren't party to the conversation. But in reading the indictments, it isn't as if Vick's name is simply sprinkled into the federal documents. The pages are actually rife with references to the Atlanta star.

In late May, two federal law enforcement officials told ESPN.com they felt there was sufficient evidence to eventually indict Vick, but were less certain of mounting successful prosecution. There is a reason, however, that the Feds own a conviction rate of better than 95 percent. The government typically doesn't indict unless it knows it can probably convict, and that should be unsettling news for the Falcons and their quarterback.

On July 7, a day after the latest raid on Vick's property, one of those same federal sources told ESPN.com for a column that the quarterback was still part of the investigation. "Just because you've got a lot of links [lying] around doesn't mean you can call in a chain," the source said. "But it also doesn't mean you abandon the notion of seeing if those links might someday become a chain."