Ray Lewis Kind of Gets His Storybook Ending, with Help from His Teammates

The two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl are always filled with story lines for both teams, although it's not often that too many original plots pan out the way the media (and/or fans) would like. Sometimes the lesser-known characters rise to create something no one expected. (Cough. David Tyree. Cough.) Sometimes the media is right after all. On other occasions though, you end up somewhere in the middle, with the good not quite as heroic, and the bad not quite as depressing. Ray Lewis' story certainly falls into that last category.

The perfect plot for some media members featured Lewis pulling a Jerome Bettis- or John Elway-type stunt: winning the big game in his last game ever. Ray was able to accomplish that and got his fair share (and then some) of the cameras' attention before, during and after Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans on Sunday. A defensive stand by the Ravens was what ultimately stopped the San Francisco 49ers from winning the franchise's sixth crown in six tries, although it was a serious letdown by the defense that put the team in that situation in the first place. Lewis didn't make a fourth-down, diving goal-line stop, with the ball half a centimeter from grazing the end zone line. The secondary stopped three straight passes intended for Michael Crabtree, with Lewis not the one making the plays.

After leading his team in tackles for each of the previous three post-season games after coming back from his torn triceps, Lewis had seven tackles, which was second most on the squad. Lewis has always had a better reputation for stopping opposing running games than working well in pass coverage, but the Niners rushed the ball only 29 times and ended up with 182 yards.

In the post-game press conference, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said, "It wasn't perfect. It wasn't pretty. But it was us." Maybe that's the best way to summarize Ray Lewis' impact on the game. It had the same outcome as the final drive: finding a way to win in a complicated scenario. For a character as polarizing as Lewis, you can't really call his career pretty, but he still managed to be an effective defender and leader for more than a decade. His off-the-field antics early in his career will tarnish how some people view him no matter what, but he was one of the most dominant players on the field for a long time, and a photogenic leader during it all. 

I guess if you look carefully enough, Lewis and the Ravens did stick to the storyline. It just was one not quite as pretty as the storybook ending some people anticipated.