The charges brought against Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick for his alleged involvement in a Virginia-based dogfighting operation don't have an impact on the Ravens, but if any NFL team can relate to what the Falcons are going through, it's the team that opened training camp at McDaniel College yesterday.
Twice in the past eight years, the Ravens have arrived in Westminster with controversy swirling around them because of criminal charges brought against two of their biggest stars.
In 2000, linebacker Ray Lewis pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice after being charged with a double murder after a deadly incident in Atlanta the night of the previous season's Super Bowl.
In 2004, former Ravens running back Jamal Lewis had felony charges of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine and attempted cocaine possession reduced to a lesser charge of making a drug deal by phone.
Ray Lewis didn't miss a snap.
Jamal Lewis was suspended for two games.
The Ravens have long since moved on from those controversies, but the aftershocks caused by the recent indictment against Vick have continued to reverberate throughout the NFL.
"It's difficult for the individual. It's difficult for his team. It's difficult for the league," Ravens coach Brian Billick said after his team's morning practice. "Obviously the player has rights; the player also has obligations and the league has to do what's in the best interest of the league. It's a fine line to walk; everybody needs to sit back and let due process work its course."
Said Ray Lewis: "My prayers are with everybody and the whole situation. The thing is ugly. So all you can do is pray for him. I haven't talked to him [Vick]."
Vick, who faces up to six years in prison, was told by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to stay away from training camp.
While Vick, who pleaded not guilty last week to federal conspiracy charges, awaits the beginning of his trial Nov. 26, one of his codefendants pleaded guilty yesterday. Tony Taylor, 34, agreed to cooperate with the government in its prosecution of Vick and two other men charged in the dogfighting operation.
Taylor said the operation was financed almost entirely by Vick.
Meanwhile, the president of the Atlanta chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said the public should not rush to judgment on Vick before his court date.
