Remembering Ray Lewis

A brush of the ground on his right side was followed by a man beating his chest in likeness of King Kong.

Next he would slide a distance of about shoulder width to his left and do the same thing to his right.

Finally, Ray Lewis took those three short steps in place before bringing his knee to his chest and throwing his arms and legs outward; yelling at the sky all the while.

Every game that same routine let the opponent know that one of the NFL’s most dominant linebackers in history stepped onto the field. After 17 years of lighting up running backs and plenty of pre-game dances Lewis, the sultan of smack, has announced that he is retiring from football.

Even though the Ravens will square off against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, Lewis hasn’t had anything to prove for half a decade. He won a Superbowl MVP award in 2000. He has been a 13 time pro-bowler and seven time all pro selection.

Lewis was impossible to miss on the field. For a decade teams could not run on the Baltimore Ravens, and Lewis was a huge reason why. Any highlight film you see of the former Miami Hurricane displays countless hits on running backs of all shapes and sizes. For a decade, offensive coordinators sent their running backs at Lewis to try and keep the defense honest, those running backs usually went backwards two or three yards because of Lewis.

In terms of where Lewis ranks in terms of the greatest linebacker ever he is certainly in the top five and has a good case for best all time. Here are his numbers stacked up against some of the best linebackers ever to play the game.

Dick Butkus: Tackles-1,020. Interceptions-22. Fumble Recoveries-27. 8x Pro Bowler. 6x All Pro. 2x Defensive Player of the Year.

Mike Singletary: Tackles-1,488. Interceptions-7. 10x Pro Bowler. 8x All Pro. 2x Defensive Player of the Year. 1 Superbowl

Derrick Brooks: Tackles-1,715. Interceptions-25. 11x Pro Bowler. 9x All Pro. 1x Defensive Player of the Year. 1 Superbowl.

Junior Seau: Tackles-1,849. Interceptions-18. 12x Pro Bowler. 8x All Pro. 1x Defensive Player of the Year.

Ray Lewis: Tackles-1,573. Interceptions-31. 13x Pro Bowler. 7x All Pro. 2x Defensive Player of the Year. 1x Superbowl. 41.5 Sacks. Member of NFL 20 sack/20 interceptions club. Quickest to 30 sacks /30 interceptions. Only player with 40 sacks 30 interceptions.

Now to be fair to guys like Ray Nitschke and Lawrence Taylor the NFL did not start keeping track of tackles as an official stat until 2001. Even with those numbers inherently flawed, Lewis’ name is at the top of the all-time rankings of enforcers in NFL history.  

Even though his performance has never been in doubt there are some questions about Lewis’ character.

Everybody knows about the general events on January 31, 2000 in Atlanta. Richard Lollar and Jacinth Baker were stabbed to death at a night club that Lewis and his entourage went. A plea deal was struck and Lewis was convicted of obstruction of justice and fined 250,000 dollars by the NFL.

Eventually the two men in Lewis’ entourage were acquitted.

Even though he was guilty of a “misdemeanor” the court of public opinion thinks that Lewis got away with murder. The specter of the blood stained white suit still haunts the Ravens star and double jeopardy protects Lewis from being charged with killing Lollar and Baker again.

Yet Lewis survived the charges. His charity, The Ray Lewis 52 foundation, has helped the disadvantaged youth in inner city Baltimore. Lewis was named to the cover of Madden 05 videogame. He was the face of Old Spice and Visa and respected universally by his peers.

Character questions will not stop Lewis from heading to Canton Ohio, nor should they. The Hall of Fame is a place where men become bronzed and their character concerns are killed when the bust is built.

If fans and writers really were so worried about an athlete’s character, then convicted rapist Mike Tyson would not be in Boxing’s Hall of Fame. If character was more important than play more people would care about Tom Brady leaving Bridget Monahan while she was pregnant with his child in 2006. Instead he will head to Canton potentially as the best quarterback of all time.

Even with his character in doubt, Lewis will do his pre-game dance and be thanked by the fans in Baltimore this Sunday.