The Journeys of Two Future Hall of Famers
During the summer of 2015 I sat down with Steve Bisciotti in his office to discuss a number of things, one of them being Ray Lewis’ retirement.
If you recall Ray’s final season was marred by injury. He missed 10 regular season games during the 2012 campaign and then worked diligently to get back in time for the Ravens playoff run. An injury that typically requires 5 months of rehab took Ray just half that time.
But the injury, more specifically the grueling rehab, took its toll and it sent a message. Ray was at a point in his life when he knew that he could no longer grind through the recovery process.
Bisciotti paraphrased what Ray shared with him.
“You have to understand that while I’ve been training and recovering 20 hours a day I realized that I can’t do it anymore. I can’t come back from another injury and I won’t take a chance on walking away hurt. But I know through this rehab that I can’t do it again. And so I’m protecting myself against that inevitability.”
So Ray labored through the playoffs, a shell of the player that he had been for well over a decade. Yet his leadership and inspiration could never be understated.
I had the opportunity to host a Q&A with Justin Tucker in 2013 and I asked the Ravens kicker if he was ever nervous before a kick. He replied, “Just once, during the extra point following Jacoby’s touchdown in Denver. Had I missed, Ray’s career could have ended.”
The significance of Ray’s last stand was omnipresent.
And its ending, poetic.
It’s a good thing Ray didn’t continue and try to come back for an 18th season. He was beaten badly in Super Bowl XLVII. 2013 would have been more of the same. And if he was injured and such an injury required rehab, by his own admission, he would have called it quits.
Premier performers, particularly future Hall of Famers, should not go out on a stretcher, literally or figuratively.
No one wants to remember them as broken or over-the-hill for that matter.
Leaving as a champion is the ultimate way to leave the game.
Peyton Manning will do the same.
It’s interesting just how closely the careers of Ray and Peyton parallel each other:
• Both have played in 17 seasons (Manning missed the entire 2011 season)
• Manning has 14 Pro Bowls to his credit; Ray 13
• Manning has 5 League MVPs; Ray has 2 Defensive Player of the Year awards
• Both are 7-time first-team All Pros
• Both are on the NFL’s 2000 All Decade Team
• Both are 2-time Super Bowl Champs
• Both have been a Super Bowl MVP
Both will be first ballot Hall of Famers.
And both Lewis and Manning will retire as champions after struggling through injuries during their
final seasons.
When the stars align like they did for Ray and like they have for Peyton, you just have to go with it. You shouldn’t fight destiny and the perfect conclusion to a journey.
It’s better to go out a year too soon than a year too late and in the unique cases of Ray Lewis and Peyton Manning, like most things in their respective careers, retirement happened at just the perfect time.
Right Peyton?
