Ravens honor LB Ray Lewis with statue outside M&T Bank Stadium
By Mike Marteny
The Baltimore Ravens honored linebacker Ray Lewis with a statue depicting his pose at the end of his pregame dance ritual. The statue, unveiled Thursday morning, will stand on the north end of the M&T Stadium grounds near the statue of former Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas.
A legend is born. #52Legend https://t.co/7dmy1fwR2G
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) September 4, 2014
That just has trouble written all over it. Whenever Lewis got that close to a quarterback during his 17-year NFL career, bad things happened.
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Lewis was an All-American linebacker for the University of Miami from 1993-1995, finishing his college career fifth on the Miami career tackles list despite only playing three season.
The Baltimore Ravens selected Lewis 26th overall in the 1996 NFL draft. He was the second draft pick in team history, following Jonathan Ogden, who was selected fourth overall.
Lewis played his entire career for the Ravens, racking up 1,567 tackles and 31 interceptions during his career. Lewis’s 1,567 tackles are second in NFL history to Jessie Tuggle, who played his entire career with the Atlanta Falcons.
The Ravens won two Super Bowls, in 2000 and 2012 with Lewis as the heart of their defense. In fact, the 2000 Ravens defense was statistically one of the best ever. They allowed the fewest points (165), and fewest rushing yards (970) ever over a 16 game season.
Ray Lewis announced his retirement at the end of the 2012 season.