What You Will Never Hear Ray Lewis Say

After losing to Tom Brady and the Patriots on this past Sunday, "Sweet Baby" Ray Lewis vented in the locker room afterwards about two roughing the passer penalties called against his Ravens. The rules to protect QB's have been there more than a couple of years now. If you go anywhere near the head or anywhere near the knees, you will be flagged. If you don't want the flag, don't go there. You may not agree with the rules being so protective but if it is on the books you can't argue with it being called. But I digress, that is a subject for another day. Today I want to write about what you will NEVER, EVER hear "Sweet Baby" Ray say.

Ray Lewis is a great football player. He is a first ballot Hall of Famer who gives his all in every game. Why can't Ray give his all in crediting the other team when he gets beat? I can't recall ever hearing Ray Lewis admit that the other team was better than him and his team on that particular day.

The Patriots offensive line has struggled all season to protect Brady. In fact, the Ravens sacked Brady 3 times Sunday but the Patriots did well enough to allow Brady to get them 27 points compared to the Ravens 21 points. If Ray said anything to indicate what kind of job the Patriots did, it did not make national media.

In addition, I wonder what Ray's reaction would have been if his QB had of been the one to get those calls instead of the opposing teams QB? Would Ray still have been yelling to the media after the game about how bad the calls were? As strongly as he stated his comments, he feels the rules are wrong. If the rules are wrong to be called on his team then surely they would be wrong to be called on the other team, right?

A few years ago the Ravens hosted the Chiefs on Monday night. Priest Holmes rushed for over 200 yards against the Ravens. The Chiefs as a team rushed for over 30o yards. This game was the ultimate butt whipping when it came to an offensive line dominating a defensive front 7, which included "Sweet Baby" Ray. Ray never addressed the media after the game. He dressed and left before the media got into the locker room.

I challenge you to observe closely how Ray handles post game comments after winning and losing. If he wins he is the center of the attention. The heart and soul leader of that team. If he loses, it appears he is never around to answer the tough questions. It also appears he will never give his opponent the credit they deserve for beating his team.

It is easy being the leader when your team wins. Accepting all the congratulations and bouquets of love. Talking about how great you and your team are. Posing for pictures. All very EASY.

Hey Ray, real leaders are there to take the questions of criticism when their teams get beat or even whipped. Real respect comes when you can win humbly and when you can admit you got beat, while acknowledging the effort of your opponent.