Ray Lewis is arguably one of the greatest linebackers in NFL history. His seven First-Team All-Pros and 12 Pro Bowls are both NFL records for an inside linebacker. No one has amassed more than his 2,059 combined tackles. He’s the only player in NFL history ever to record 30+ interceptions and 40+ sacks, showing his versatility. Lewis went up against the best of the best throughout the 2000s and emerged with two Super Bowl rings.
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His main adversary during that time was the rival Pittsburgh Steelers, obviously. However, he and his Baltimore Ravens also built up some real animosity with the two best players and teams of the era: Peyton Manning and his Indianapolis Colts, and Tom Brady and his New England Patriots. From 2000 to 2009, the Colts (115) and Pats (112) won more games than anyone. They were the teams to beat. And apparently, Lewis had a secret weapon.
Lewis was a middle linebacker, which means he called the plays for his defense. However, positioned in the middle of the defense right across from the QB, he was also in charge of deciphering audibles QBs would call at the line of scrimmage. Manning is infamous for his lengthy list of LOS calls, most notably “Omaha”. Lewis once claimed that he knew Manning and Brady’s play calls so well that he could “tell you when one of them had to piss.” It’s a vintage quote from Lewis, but a dubious claim, to be sure.
“Those are the two minds that I studied the most. I can tell you when one of them had to piss. But there’s so many secrets that I could tell you from a pre-snap read, I could tell you if it’s run or pass… Let me tell you what Peyton tell is. If Peyton got to the line and started to rumble off—so the play clock is at 40 seconds right—going to this person, ‘Omaha! Omaha!’ And he’s doing all this at 40 and 35 seconds, it means absolutely nothing.”
Lewis continued to break down Manning’s pre-snap shenanigans and at what time he knew the QB was going into his actual play rather than a bluff.
“When Peyton gets up under 15-10 seconds on the play clock, that’s when you’re gonna get the play that he’s running. You can no longer audible out, or check, and I’m trying to go as close as it can before we jump into what we’re totally in.”
Ray Lewis is such a good storyteller that he makes this almost sound impressive. Any football person worth their salt, however, could probably have told you that the further from the end of the play clock you are, the more BS the opposing QB is spewing. It’s really common sense. Like Lewis said, once you get down to only a few seconds on the clock, “you can no longer audible out”. Not exactly a secret.
And, not to rain on Lewis’ parade here, but the raw numbers don’t really back up any sort of idea that he knew Tom Brady or Peyton Manning especially well. Or even better than any other LBs. He never intercepted either one of them, and he only ever sacked Brady once and Manning twice throughout their careers.
His Ravens also struggled mightily against both of these QBs. When going up against Brady, Lewis was 1-4 in the regular season, though he was 2-1 in the postseason. In the regular season, Brady averaged 262.8 yards per game while throwing five TDs against three picks for an 83.0 passer rating. Lewis and the Ravens certainly had their number in the postseason, winning two of three and forcing him into a 3-7 TD-INT ratio.
Against Manning, Lewis was 2-5 in the regular season and 1-2 in the postseason. And it’s worth noting that those two regular-season wins came in 1998 and 2001, before Peyton was really Peyton. In those seven regular-season games, Manning averaged over 284 yards and threw 16 TDs against four INTs for a 105.8 passer rating. In the playoffs, despite that 1-2 record, Lewis’ Ravens did cause him some problems, with a 5-5 TD-INT ratio in those three contests.
Surely Ray Lewis did study the minds of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. But other than pointing out the obvious pre-snap, he didn’t have much else to reveal. Or maybe he’s just keeping it a secret. If he is keeping it secret, apart from that that 2012 playoff run when he beat them both, sure didn’t help him much, as he went 6-12 against Brady and Manning overall across his career.
