Joe Flacco loved Ray Lewis as a teammate, but forgive him if he was left baffled by the soon-to-be Hall of Fame linebacker’s speeches at times.
The Baltimore Ravens quarterback said in March that sometimes he didn’t even know what Lewis meant in his speeches, but he liked the way the messages were conveyed; just the emotional way Lewis spoke was enough to fire up his teammates.
In an interview with ESPN The Magazine, Flacco repeated that thought when recalling how former Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron wanted him to give a Lewis-like speech to the offense a few years ago.
“That’s not me,” Flacco says. “I love Ray, and I love how he always spoke from the heart, but if you listened to those speeches, a lot of them didn’t even make sense. He meant everything he was saying, but I didn’t know what he was talking about 90 percent of the time.”
Flacco also acknowledges that he is considered boring, but that doesn’t bother him.
“If you think I’m boring, I don’t see why it’s a negative thing. All I’ve ever wanted was to be respected within the building,” he told ESPN The Magazine’s Kevin Van Valkenburg.
With Lewis retired and longtime defensive star Ed Reed in Houston, Flacco is now the leader on the team. It’s hard to believe, but Flacco is 28 and a five-year veteran. After Cameron was fired as offensive coordinator, Flacco showed that he can make plays and carry the team. Now it’s time to show he can do it again … with or without the speeches.
