Super Bowl XLVII marked the end of a great 17 year career. Ray Lewis went out on top you can’t ask for a better storybook ending. If you would have told me during week 6 when Ray was hurt and placed on the IR that he would return for the playoffs and help lead his team to the Super Bowl I would’ve called you a damn lie to be frank. In the grand scheme of things I thought it wouldn’t happen like this but boy was I wrong.
Ray Ray tore up college at the U, they were the U when he was there don’t judge the current state of the football team. He won a lot of awards at the U but there were some that thought he was too small to make an immediate impact in the NFL. For those who doubted Ray man were they wrong. The newly Baltimore Ravens drafted Ray in the first round in the rest was history after that. Lewis can count his lucky stars just for the beginning of his career if the Ravens hadn’t bolted from Cleveland he would have been a Cleveland Brown. Yes this isn’t a joke do you think this teams luck would have changed who knows? Or would the city of Cleveland have two Super Bowl titles? Ok, this post isn’t to argue this point but you get where I’m coming from right? 1996 was the first year for the Baltimore franchise in Ray was the teams 2nd pick in history.
During the end of the 99 season, Ray had his biggest trail in it wasn’t on the field. He wasn’t found guilty so I’m not here to judge him. For us football fans have been lucky enough to enjoy on of the entire football career of one of the all time greats. Do you think the Ravens turn into a model franchise without Ray around? For their organization it’s good they didn’t have to find out but it was a close reality.
Enough with the negative let’s highlight some of the many things that will leave a lasting impression on football fans across the world. Ray helped the Ravens win 2 Super Bowls (XXXV, XLVII) and was the XXXV Super Bowl MVP which is something that normally goes to the QB, RB or WR, yes normally an offensive skill position. Lewis made 13x Pro Bowls, an All-Pro 10x (7x 1st team, 3x 2nd team), the NFL Defensive player of the year 2x and AFC Defensive player of the year 3x. He is the only player in the history of the NFL to record at least 40 interceptions and 30 plus interceptions during their career. All of these feats are pretty damn impressive, he also is one of the best leaders of men we will probably ever see in our lifetime. That is an immeasurable that you can’t put on paper which may be his greatest asset.
It seems like Ray was unstoppable but one thing got him. What was that one thing? It was the cover of Madden 05 (which was the 04 season) he was the cover boy for the very popular EA Sports game. During that season he didn’t last the whole season as he was injured and couldn’t beat the famous Madden curse but it was one of the few things that could slow down this great career.
Ray has been slowing down the last few years everyone could see it but he still was effective, nobody could argue that. It’s good to see one of your favorite players go out on his own terms because most are forced out via getting cut or injury. During week 6 I thought it was possible that it could happen to Ray but he was able to come back in change the dynamic of the Ravens team for one last ride. At the expense of my 9ers he was able to ride off into the sunset like no other. Ray enjoy watching your son play at the U and being able to relax in the off season.
