Many people despise Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis' tough-talk and brutal play on the field but yesterday— after his team was defeated by the New England Patriots, 23-20, when a dropped touchdown pass and missed field-goal cost them a chance at winning the AFC Championship in the waning seconds— they have to admit that the poster-boy for NFL helmet-to-helmet football sounded, well... sensitive.
A bobbled TD catch by Lee Evans— which could have won the game— and then a missed 32-yard field goal by Billy Cundiff with 15 seconds left that could have sent it into overtime were at the center of Lewis' Dr. Phil moment.
After the game, the 16-year veteran came to the defense of the team scapegoats and told reporters,"We win as a team. We lose as a team."
As for the two dejected players, Lewis said they should "move on as men" and he would reach out to them.
Comforting words from a man who has had his own dark days.
Lewis should know about being some sort of a pariah because he is no stranger to scandal on the field or— more importantly— off of it.
Lewis' touching display of forgiveness can't help but remind people of a dark side to his own past.
Early in his career, Lewis— who is often called heroic on the gridiron— paid a settlement to the families of two homicide victims in a still unresolved double-murder after.
In that 2000 case, Lewis copped to an obstruction of justice plea after the stabbing incident at a post-Super Bowl party outside an Atlanta nightclub.
Yesterday, Lewis said, "There's no one man that's ever lost a game."
As for the uplifting support of his teammates, the man just wants them to know there are bigger things in life to cope with.
As for the uplifting support of his teammates, the man just wants them to know there are bigger things in life to cope with.
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