How should we introduce Ray Lewis?
It can be simply said that this is a football player whose North American influence is comparable to Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, but he is not a quarterback but a linebacker. More importantly, the team he plays for It was Baltimore, not big ball markets like Los Angeles or New York. He still created such brilliance, which is extremely rare even in the entire history.
In the 1996 draft, Lewis was one of the generally favored middle linebackers, but overall, he was not the best linebacker in that draft. Scouts generally believed that Kevin Hardy ( Kevin-Hardy) was the most outstanding linebacker. In the end, Hardy was picked with the second pick, and Lewis was only the fifth linebacker selected.
Scouts believe that Lewis' speed, grappling ability and defensive hardness are worthy of recognition, but unfortunately, he is not tall or big. The general view is that his potential has reached its ceiling. It is for this reason that Lewis's draft stock eventually slipped to No. 26, the Baltimore Ravens' second pick.
But the story was different after that. Kevin Hardy performed really well, but it was just one Pro Bowl and one All-American first team; and Ray Lewis? He became one of the greatest linebackers in history and one of the Baltimore Ravens' most iconic leaders.
On January 22, 2012, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough was cheering and celebrating. They were celebrating a narrow escape at the last moment - the Ravens missed the winning free kick and watched the Patriots break through. Entering the Super Bowl, even though the Ravens blocked all of Brady's passing lanes and prevented the future Hall of Fame quarterback from passing a touchdown for the first time in nearly thirty-six games, they still fell short in the end. .
At that time, there was a dead silence in the visiting team's locker room. The kicker Billy Cundiff, who missed the 32-yard free kick, sat in despair on the cold and damp ground of Fox Castle, sobbing lowly. It was heart-gnawing and bone-gnawing, the entire team had lost its direction, and even the media reporters involuntarily lowered their voices.
It was not quarterback Joe Flacco who finally stood up, but Ray Lewis.
Lewis came to Condiff's side, patted the 32-year-old veteran's head gently, and raised his voice to all his teammates in the locker room and said, "I never think that one ball can determine the outcome of the game. Man, don't hang your head! We win as a unit and we lose as a unit."
As the leader of the locker room, Lewis stood up and shouldered the weight of the entire team at the most tragic moment. But he knew that, at the age of thirty-six, he might never have another chance to compete in the Super Bowl.
This is Ray Lewis!
Of course, Lewis is perfect? Obviously not.
As a linebacker, "Thor" is the biggest reward and pursuit for him, proving his unparalleled dominance on the court, and all statistics are top-notch; but as an ordinary person, just like Kobe Bryant Despite the 2003 sexual assault accusations, Lewis has also been involved in serious negative news.
In 2000, at a celebration party after the Baltimore Ravens won the Super Bowl, Lewis was involved in a murder in Atlanta.
The two groups disagreed and had a dispute on the street. After the heated words, they started to fight with each other - Atlanta is a city where gun ownership is legal. After the explosion of adrenaline and male hormones, it was a mess, destroying everyone like the fire of hell. All the chaos is burned away, and death comes like this.
Later, someone reported and noticed the figure of Ray Lewis in the crowd, which immediately detonated the powder magazine——
At that time, the famous running back OJ Simpson's "wife murder case" even caused a sensation across North America. Because Simpson was black and his wife was white, it also triggered riots between the two races. , and its influence continues to this day; the 2017 documentary "The Simpsons: Made in America" truly restored the incident, and then won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature the following year.
Now Lewis is involved in another murder case?
Then the matter entered a long and complicated period of investigation, victory, appeal, and court debate. In the end, Lewis's lawyer reached a plea bargain with the prosecutor, in which Lewis testified against his two friends in exchange for a reduced penalty for perjury. , which resulted in Lewis being sentenced to one year of probation, and then the NFL was fined $250,000.
Despite this, there are still a lot of complaints circulating in the society, believing that this is the role of a powerful legal team, just like Simpson back then, because Lewis’s clothes during the incident were never found, and the police did find Lewis’s car in the car. Bloodstains of a dead man were found there, but it was clear that Lewis was not telling the full truth.
All this had a serious impact on Lewis's reputation; since then, Lewis has begun to avoid his words, deeds and amateur life, focusing all his energy on the court.
Later, Kobe Bryant fell into the same predicament. Lewis became good friends with Bryant. He generously opened his arms and gave Bryant a lot of support. He said, "No one can guarantee that he will not make mistakes. .What we need to do is forget the shadows left in our hearts by those mistakes and move in the right direction.”
That year was a mixed year for Lewis. In the Super Bowl, he led the defensive team to completely crush the opponent New York Giants, easily winning with a score of "35:7", and Lewis was also selected as a Super Bowl player. Bowl MVP, the second linebacker in history to win such an honor; but the celebration party that followed became a turning point in his career.
After that, Lewis focused all his energy on the court and gradually became the most influential rugby player in North America.
At a time when quarterbacks dominate all discourse on and off the field, Lewis, as a linebacker, has become a leader in the Baltimore Ravens and even the entire league. This is a miracle in itself; what is even more commendable is that in an average career of only three to During the five years in the league, Lewis played for seventeen years and only played for one team. His achievements and status are unique in the entire history of the league.
Just looking at the Baltimore Ravens defense in the 2000 season, this was a tough team comparable to the Chicago Bears defense in 1985!
Among the Chicago Bears defensive team that year, Hall of Fame inside linebacker Mike Singletary (Mike Singletary) was undoubtedly one of the core figures. By the way, Singletary served as the San Francisco 49ers in 2009 and 2010. The head coach; Singletary is Lewis’s idol, and he is also the motivation and role model for Lewis to enter the professional league.
The Chicago Bears' defense set an insurmountable record, conceding an average of four points per game and shutting out opponents in four games; and it was the Baltimore Ravens in the 2000 season who broke such a record. Only these two teams were also said to have conceded points per game. They are the top two most fearsome defensive teams in NFL history.
With just one season of performance, Lewis is enough to go down in history, but that's not all!
Throughout Lewis' current seventeen-year career, he has been selected to the Pro Bowl thirteen times, seven times in the All-American first team, three times in the All-American second team, and twice became the Defensive Player of the Year in 2000 and 2003; at the same time, he is also an NFL history The only player in the world with at least 40 sacks and 30 interceptions, on the occasion of the league's 90th anniversary in 2010, the official ranking of the greatest players ranked Lewis at No. 18.
As an inside linebacker, Lewis's dominance on the defensive front is phenomenal. Needless to say, in the two American League finals last year and this year, Brady was invisible in the former game, and in the latter game The game made Brady exhausted. These two games can show Lewis's top ability.
It is no exaggeration to say that Lewis's ability on the defensive front is enough to intimidate any quarterback. At this time, Lewis was already thirty-seven years old. In a rugby field with such fierce competition and confrontation, it is even more incredible, and it can even be said to be recorded in history.
But time makes people grow old, and even the "Thor" cannot resist the pain caused by time and injuries. Only at this moment can people feel that Ray Lewis is still a mortal after all.
In the 2012 season, in the sixth week of the regular season against the Dallas Cowboys, he was absent due to a torn triceps. After medical examination, Lewis would need to be absent for at least eight to ten weeks; however, the media have speculated that Lewis may be out in December. He came back early in the middle of the year, but the speculation time was pushed back again and again. In the end, he did not wait for Lewis's comeback declaration, but waited for his retirement declaration.
"Everyone, as much as I want to, I really can't accompany you to the end with my most beloved football. The end of the 2012 playoffs is when I retire."
When Lewis made his declaration, the entire league and even North America were shocked. The Thor, who had dominated the game for 17 years, was finally tired and was about to stop.
Countless other topics and gimmicks, focuses and hot spots are far less shocking than "The Last Battle". It is so tragic and so moving. This is the last time every fan sees Baltimore Ravens No. 52 on the field. Whether they like it or hate it, whether they are fans or sworn enemies, everyone is saying goodbye in their own way.
Lewis has won his respect with his own efforts!
Just this topic is enough to make this Super Bowl special.
What's more, is Thor's last opponent still Lu Ke?
