NFL players, coaches and others share memories about Ravens' Ray Lewis

Brian Billick had heard all week about what his 2000 team's defense was going to do to the Cleveland Browns. The Lewis-led group already had four shutouts in the first 12 games, including one against the Browns in Week 5 that year. When the Browns arrived in Baltimore in late November with Doug Pederson as the starting quarterback, the Ravens expected more of the same.

"The guys were feeling it all week long, [saying] this is going to be another shutout," said Billick, the Ravens' coach from 1999 to 2007. "Well, Cleveland comes out and goes 86 yards on the opening drive. I'm walking down the sidelines, and Ray and Rod [Woodson] are coming off the field first. So I'm going to go do my head-coaching thing. And Ray looks at me and says, 'Don't say a thing, I got it.' So I go left to the Gatorade and get out of the way. They had 112 yards total for the day after giving up 86 on that drive. I said, 'OK, anytime you want to do that, you go right ahead, Ray.' I learned right then and there to stay out of the way."

Two months later, the Ravens defense was dominant again, this time in a 34-7 victory over the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV.

"When you see a Shannon Sharpe, a Rod Woodson, a Trent Dilfer, a Tony Siragusa, who have been in the league for a while and who normally would be those leaders, and they are willing to capitulate the leadership of this team to a young Ray Lewis, that told" him everything, Billick said. "Normally, those guys would have said, 'Hold on, young man, you can dance all you want, but I'm going to set the tone for this team.'

"[But] they saw it, and these are Hall of Famers, in the case of Shannon Sharpe and Rod Woodson. That told me there is something special about this guy [and] that they are willing to follow his lead. They knew what it led to."

-- Jeff Zrebiec

Source: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bal-other-nfl-players-coaches-share-ray-lewis-memories-20130216,0,5933661.storylink?track=rss

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