(Photo: David Butler II, USA TODAY Sports)
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Two cities have hoped to host the final game in the stomping, screaming, shoulder-checking 16-year NFL career of Ray Lewis.
Two cities have been disappointed by the Baltimore Ravens and the linebacker they call "Mufasa."
Nursing a surgically repaired right triceps, Lewis collected a team-high 14 tackles with nine in the first half as the Ravens defeated the New England Patriots 28-13 in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday night at Gillette Stadium.
Lewis thanked God and exchanged hugs with team owner Steve Bisciotti on the field and Michael Phelps in the locker room.
"For Baltimore," Lewis and the Olympic swimming legend agreed.
And it was Lewis' teammates who did all the roaring about their "Lion King".
"There's no better leader," linebacker Terrell Suggs said. "That's Mufasa. He said this is his last ride, so we might as well make it special for him. He's led us here. He busted his tail to get back and make a run with us, and we still have one more win to get."
The linebacker, who announced his retirement at the onset of these playoffs, will play but one more game – Super Bowl XLVII on Sunday, Feb. 3 in New Orleans. After Championship Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers stand between Lewis and a second title.
On the way to retirement, he helped deny another of the league's elder statesmen a shot at the Super Bowl -- Baltimore topped Peyton Manning's Broncos last week in Denver. A week prior, the Ravens denied Manning's successor in Indianapolis -– rookie quarterback Andrew Luck –- in Lewis' final home game.
Three weeks later, Lewis stood in a champagne-soaked visitors locker room and addressed his pride one year after the Ravens lost at this very stage, in this very building.
"I just said that God doesn't make mistakes," Lewis said. "He's never made one mistake. There was no way that he was going to bring us back here twice to feel that same feeling. We're back, but this time we're on our way to the Super Bowl."
PHOTO: RAY LEWIS THROUGH THE YEARS
In three playoff games, Lewis has collected a team-high 44 combined tackles. While wearing a bulky, black arm brace and a menacing new facemask, he sometimes struggled to keep up with receivers on crossing routes -- especially vs. Manning--- and failed to meet runners in the backfield as he had done in 13 career Pro Bowl seasons.
Nevertheless, Lewis spearheaded a Ravens defense that created two key turnovers -- a second-half fumble by Stevan Ridley forced by safety Bernard Pollard, and a fourth-quarter interception by linebacker Dannell Ellerbe off a pass tipped by Pernell McPhee.
Ellerbe has been one of the many Ravens playing injured, with an ankle injury that sidelined him for three weeks in a row. Linebacker Jameel McClain (neck) and Lardaius Webb (ACL) were lost for the season. Safety Ed Reed has played with a shoulder injury, while linebacker Terrell Suggs came back from tearing his Achilles during the offseason, only to tear his biceps and miss two games. Along the way, Baltimore lost three in a row in the season's final weeks.
"For us to go through that process of losing three games, I saw the work of the man upstairs," Reed said. "We knew we had the team. To get here, it's amazing."
Lewis, who tore his triceps during the same game Webb was lost for the season, says he's done after these playoffs, for the sake of his children and his family. His eldest son, Ray Lewis III, is committed to play football in the fall for the University of Miami (Fla.), Lewis' alma mater.
It was nearly 13 years ago that a post-Super Bowl party melee between Lewis, his companions and two men resulted in the stabbing deaths of both Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar. While murder charges against the linebacker were dismissed, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor obstruction of justice and sentenced to probation.
PHOTO: AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Family members of Baker and Lollar interviewed this month by USA TODAY Sports said Lewis is not forgiven in their eyes for his murky role in the unsolved murders. Lewis declined comment on the topic last week, but coach John Harbaugh spoke of how religion changed Lewis.
"I'm just feeling an incredible amount of awe in the work that God can do in one man's life," Harbuagh said. "Ray's the epitome of that. Ray's a guy that has turned everything over. He's surrendered everything, and he's become the man that he is today.
"He's a different man than he was when he was 22 or 15 or whatever. I think everybody sees that right now. It's a very special deal."
A year after the killings, and three years before reaching undisclosed cash settlements with the families of both men, Lewis won his first and only Super Bowl ring as the Ravens beat the Giants 34-7 on Jan. 28, 2001, with Lewis earning the game's MVP award.
After that Super Bowl, Lewis shared an embrace with then-owner Art Modell, who supported Lewis through his personal struggles, and remained a close friend until Modell's death at the beginning of this season. The team dedicated the campaign to the late owner, wearing 'Art' patches on their chests. Players haven't forgotten their tribute -- Suggs sauntered through the locker room shouting, "We did it for Art Mo-deezy."
The Ravens encountered loss again this season when Torrey Smith's younger brother, Tevin, died in a motorcycle accident the day before the Ravens hosted the Patriots in Week 3, a 31-30 Baltimore victory.
Lewis added one last jolt of inspiration with the retirement announcement, and now the team that spent the better part of the playoffs on the road will finish a charmed season on the sport's ultimate stage.
"We've just been through so much," Ellerbe said. "I don't feel like any team has been through the struggles we have. We had to go the long way, and sometimes you have to go the long way to get where you want."
USA TODAY
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