Browns’ Mob Ready to Lynch, But Who to Target?
September 22, 2010NFL Rumor Mill: Browns Linked to Kevin Kolb…Again
September 22, 2010
Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis is now 35-years old. He has made the Pro Bowl 11 times in his career and has been an All-Pro nine times. Winning the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year Award twice, Lewis was also the first linebacker to win the Super Bowl MVP on the winning team. A controversial career without a doubt, but since coming into the league, Lewis has been one of the most dominating players to take the field each and every Sunday.
And he could have been a member of Cleveland Browns.
Drafted with a first-round pick in the inaugural draft back in 1996, the Baltimore Ravens selected Lewis 26th overall. And though he was in college at the time time of the infamous Browns relocation, 14 years have passed and Lewis still understands what could have been.
“I don’t want to disrespect their feelings, I truly understand what all went on,” said Lewis via conference call. “But from my standpoint, I was in college when all that stuff was going on. I never had the pleasure to actually walk in and play for the Browns, I’ve always been a Raven from day one. I understand the logistics behind what went on and your heart goes out to those people who this was done to, but for me I just have to keep moving on and write a new chapter.”
With the Browns returning to Cleveland in 1999, they were placed in the same division with the Ravens right out of the gate. Not that it would have taken something like division alignment to create an instant rivalry between the new Browns and the team that was the Browns – the one who would go on to win the Super Bowl two years later.
And regardless of the “both teams must win to create a rivalry” mantra, Lewis knows that whether the Browns are undefeated or winless, these two teams will not be holding back any punches come game day.
“I think it’ll always be a great rivalry because of what transpired,” said Lewis. “It’ll never change. When we go to Cleveland, people in Cleveland let it be known that it’s one game during the year that they want to win. This was their team.”
“Their team,” the one that has only made the playoffs once since returning in 1999, the one that gets to watch the Ravens be perennial contenders for the AFC crown. A tough pill to swallow for most in Cleveland, things do not appear to be getting much better come this Sunday as the Browns are currently a double-digit underdog to the team from Baltimore. Lewis stated that he appreciates the changes that the Browns have made over the last season, but was kind enough to remind us all that there will be no leniency given when the two teams take the field.
“The thing that we focus on the most is to forget people’s records. The bottom line is that this is a division rival for us – they know us, we know them – so even though they made some changes over here, they’re in the AFC North. It’s about getting a win in the division.”
—
(Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images North America)
19 Comments
surprisingly respectful comments from Ray. Then again we’re not the Jets….no need to intimidate.
You know, despite my deep hate for the rest of the AFC North and my jealously of the success the Ravens have had after leaving I do respect a lot about the organization. Obviously Ozzie, but also their staple players, like Ray, who are, in my view, the truest examples of what a professional football player should be. Lots of heart, lots of intensity, and a big love for the game. It’s hard to play the “what if” game, especially when it comes to the Brownies, as we have missed out on so much, but I can’t help but imagine what it would’ve been like had they never left, and we landed a player like Ray.
Did Rae comment on the time he stabbed those people to death after the Super Bowl?
This article just reminds me of how much I hate Art Modell.
Not what I expected at all.
@3 Wow Hamster… so you were there and saw it all happen, right?
RayRay is generally not a good dude and pretty much a d-bag…
…BUT I think the dude totally get’s “it” when it comes to football, unlike some *cough*braylon&derekanderson*cough*
This doesn’t have anything to do with the Ray Ray article, but I was traveling on Monday morning and didn’t catch the WWW to see who the Hillis Haiku winner was….I went back and didn’t see anything…did you guys pick somebody yet?
I especially liked when he blamed the refs for last week’s loss. Any Browns player could have placed some of the blame on the refs for the KC loss but didn’t say a thing. Yeah Lewis is a great player but he’s still a punk
Surprisingly respectful. Still seems to be a complete D-bag off the field, but is surely a dominating force on the field. I tend to view him in the same light as what #3 says above for better or worse.
@ 6…..Nobody saw OJ’s machete madness either, but puleeeze….
I despise the Ravens and Ray Lewis for sure, but I can’t help but respect what they do on the field. Ray Lewis, for all his many faults, is one heck of a football player, and the type of guy Cleveland fans would rally around in a second if he were in Orange & Brown. I sincerely hope we manage to draft someone with that kind of impact someday who can become the cornerstone of our defense.
Ray Lewis is the absolute epitome of everything wrong with civilization. This guy murdered people (*allegedly*) and is hailed as a superman because he can tackle people.
On a lighter note…Why do the Ravens always hate the end of the NFL season?
Because it marks the end of that years “work release” program…ZING!
Now that Art Modell is dead (don’t tell me I’m wrong) I’m over the Ravens hatred thing being there just because they existed in 1996 and we didn’t. As stated above they are a division rival. But that’s all they are to me. Am I the only one?
And really, why are they even in the North division?
I’m no Ray Lewis apologist but come on guys. Does anyone here actually think he murdered those people? If you paid any attention to the trial you’d know he was charged with murder so he would roll over on his friends. And guess what? It worked. DA offices do this all the time. They will pressure someone with a charge they know isn’t true so the defendant will tell all they know.
Ray Lewis doesn’t murder people; knives murder people.
But if he was in the car when it happened and he didn’t do anything to stop it he is an accessory to murder. Yes he rolled over on them but he should have done some jail time nonetheless.
I agree he is a hell of a player but an absolute scumbag as a person. I’d like to see a re-alignment along geographical lines, move the Ratbirds to the AFC East and put Buffalo in the central. It would be a win win for the Browns, not having to play the Ratbirds twice a year and getting to play the Bills twice a year.
Lewis is a stud on the field the kind of stud we haven’t seen in over 11 years.
Ray Lewis was not Baltimore’s first draft pick. That was Jonathan Ogden, #4 overall in 1996, twenty-two picks before Ray.