Ray Lewis Nowhere To Be Found After Ravens' Loss To Bengals

Ray Lewis loves to talk.

Not in a T.O. or a Chad Ochocinco sort of way. No, when Ray-Ray opens his mouth, it comes complete with a four-piece string section and seraphim fluttering about his head.

See, Ray Lewis is NFL royalty. He’s a media darling. The national media may air every single word a prima donna wide receiver may say, but only so they can crucify them.

When it comes to Ray Lewis, the media trip all over themselves like 14-year-old girls at a Jonas Brothers concert.

“Can you imagine how upset Ray Lewis is right now?” the talking heads asked after Baltimore’s recent three-game skid.

“Let’s take a look at the fantastic Ray Lewis,” gushed Dick Enberg before the start of Sunday’s game with Cincinnati.

“I can tell you one thing, Ray will not let them lose this game,” said countless “experts” all over the country this week.

Ray Lewis earned this respect. He’s been in the Pro Bowl every year and he approaches interviews much like Barack Obama. There’s no boasting or loud gestures.

Every word is measured and delivered in a quiet, confident way that just makes reporters melt.

But underneath that veneer lies a man who is no different than Terrell Owens or Randy Moss. Extremely confident, he has never taken the blame for a loss and has never given credit to an opponent for a win.

After the loss to New England, Lewis blasted the officiating for what was admittedly weak roughing calls on Patriot quarterback Tom Brady.

Well, maybe “blasted” isn’t the right word. After all, he delivered it more like Liam Neeson threatening the thugs in the movie Taken . But the message was clear, Ray didn’t like the calls.

Leading up to this week’s huge game with the Bengals, Lewis took umbrage to the fact that Cedric Benson broke the Ravens’ nearly three-year run of not allowing a 100-yard rusher.

“You give up two big runs to somebody just because you didn’t keep your leverage,” Lewis told the media earlier in the week. “Do you give credit to him? Hey, we’ll see this week. ... You have to come do it again.”

Maybe Ray was right, but it really doesn’t matter. You can complain about grooving a fastball to Albert Pujols all you want, it doesn’t change the fact that the ball went 500 feet.

Benson rushed for 120 yards against the proud, vaunted Ravens defense a month ago and on Sunday, he did it again, slashing Baltimore for 117 yards.

That’s three 100-yard rushers in four games, if you’re keeping track at home.

Ray Lewis has often been one of the Bengals’ biggest detractors, a trait softened only slightly by his relationships with Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis and Ochocinco. He has developed an almost cottage industry in smacking the Bengals around in print.

But after Sunday’s 17-7 loss that left the Ravens essentially three games back with eight play, Lewis couldn’t be bothered with a comment. The Baltimore Sun reported that Lewis serendipitously got a phone call as reporters approached in the lockerroom and thus, was unavailable to talk.

It’s not surprising. Maybe the string section needed time to warm up or the seraphim were unavailable. Or maybe, Ray-Ray just needed time to admit when he was beaten.