Ray Lewis? first-week total of 10 tackles, two passes defenses and one sack in Sunday?s 27-0 win over the Buccaneers earned the Ravens linebacker AFC defensive player of the week honors.
Lewis entered the season with more skeptics than at any point in his career.
Some speculated that mounting injuries were slowing the 11-year veteran, who has been known for his quickness and punishing hits.
He answered those criticisms with a flair. He leveled a bruising hit on Tampa Bay running back Michael Pittman at the goal line that made highlight reels, and his sack of quarterback Chris Simms showed Lewis could be as fast as he was in the early part of the decade.
“If people want to say I?m old, new ? nah, I?m still me, regardless if I go through injury, if I go through what other people want to say,” Lewis said following the Tampa Bay game. “The only people I try to have my trust in is my teammates, and they understand why I?m here, where I?m trying to go as a team and where we?re trying to go.”
Jordan: It?s ?war?: Raiders running back LaMont Jordan, a graduate of Suitland High in Prince George?s County and the University of Maryland, said coming back to the region will mean little this time.
“None of that really matters, man, because once that opening kickoff comes, the Ravens could care less whether or not I?m from that area,” Jordan said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters.
“I?m a guy. I?m going to be running the ball, and they?re coming to knock my head off just like if I was a guy not from the area. None of that really matters.”
The Raiders have had some internal issues in recent weeks, but Jordan said that is not distracting him from the task at hand.
“Right now, I?m preparing myself for a war, and that?s what it?s going to be,” Jordan said. “Anytime you play the Ravens, you have to prepare yourself for a war. That?s the kind of the reputation, that?s the kind of respect those guys have [from] me. Right now, my focus is on the Baltimore Ravens.”
