There was never any doubt that Ray Lewis was the emotional leader of the Ravens during their Super Bowl run.
But there were times when not everybody knew what the heck he was talking about.
Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco said there were times he just kind of had to go with it, when Lewis got on a roll.
“Oh, it’s funny,” Flacco told USA Today’s Robert Klemko. “His speeches come from the heart, but there’s definitely times where I’m sitting there kind of chuckling to myself. It’s all good. There’s nobody that’s more passionate about what he does than that guy.
“So you just sit back and take it all in, but there’s times where he says some stuff and you’re like, ‘Man I don’t know what that meant, but I like how he said it.’”
But just because he signed a six year, $120.6 million contract, which makes him the leader regardless, Flacco isn’t about to try to emulate Lewis’s rhetorical style.
“I don’t do what Ray does, but I’m the leader of the football team,” Flacco said. “I do it in my way. There are people that do it different ways and obviously we’re able to do it pretty well.”
They’re going to be very different next year, as Flacco brings a style that even his own dad called “dull.”
But if he continues to play at a high level — which Lewis didn’t always this year — nobody will care if the speeches are as entertaining.