Ray Lewis was 'nervous,' one Ravens teammate says

One more nugget from Ray Lewis' last stand in Baltimore.

In the hours before Lewis took the field for his final home game at M&T Bank Stadium -- he's set to retire after the season -- teammate Brendon Ayanbadejo noticed something peculiar about the Ravens legend.

"I've never really seen Ray nervous before," Ayanbadejo told Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports, after Baltimore's 24-9 wild-card victory over the Indianapolis Colts set up a trip to Denver to face the Broncos next weekend.

Ayanbadejo rode shotgun in Lewis' white Infiniti from the team's hotel to the stadium and saw, as Silver described, an "emotional teammate savoring every second of the journey."

"I mean, Ray Lewis doesn't get nervous," Ayanbadejo said. "Well, Ray was nervous. It was a pretty amazing sight."

Anything resembling the jitters melted away as Lewis led the Ravens with 13 tackles. The seven-time All-Pro saw plenty of action on defense against the Colts and, as the game's final seconds ticked away, thrilled the masses with his patented "squirrel dance."

One last moment with the people before vanishing into the Baltimore night.


(nfl.com)