Everyone realizes that Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis will retire after Baltimore’s current playoff run ends.
Few are paying attention to the question of whether another veteran will be back in 2013."A guy like Ray Lewis, you send him off properly -- press conferences, all that stuff,” veteran center Matt Birk said Friday, via Edward Lee of the Baltimore Sun. “Guys like me, I just disappear, and then you’re sitting around one day wondering, ‘Hey, whatever happened to that guy whose locker used to be over here?’ That’s how it goes.”
Birk was uncertain about returning in 2012 after a heartbreaking loss in the AFC title game, which was similar in many respects to the manner in which his rookie season ended with the 1998 Vikings. He eventually decided to play.This time around, he’s not talking about whether he’ll return or retire.”
I’m a live-in-the-moment kind of guy, I really am,” Birk said. “I never thought I’d be here in 2013 still playing football. I don’t worry about the future, and I won’t make any decisions until I have to. That’s kind of my motto. Serves me well.”
Birk joined the Ravens in 2009 after 11 seasons in Minnesota. He has four with the Ravens.
Like Ray Lewis, Birk surely would like to ride off into the sunset with a Lombardi Trophy under his arm.