The Cleveland Browns wanted Bart Scott bad this past offseason. So much so that the team brought the Ravens linebacker into its building and laid out a future for him.
“We were really encouraged and enthused by Bart coming in because (general manager and former Ravens front office member) Phil Savage has a little knowledge of him,” Browns head coach Romeo Crennel said. “I think we came close to ?sell him that this was the place, but then (the Ravens) realized his importance to your team and decided to keep him.”
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When the two teams met on Sunday, Scott walked on to the field at Cleveland Browns Stadium with the Ravens to face his failed suitors, the host Browns.
“It looks like I made a great decision,” Scott said before the win.
Scott showed why both teams wanted him so badly, by getting eight tackles and 2.5 sacks in the 15-14 win.
Scott, after signing a three-year contract in the offseason, has become a vocal and physical leader for the Ravens. Entering the game, Scott had 15 total tackles, four pass deflections and three sacks. Scott had already come into his own in 2005, as he replaced an injured Ray Lewis for 10 games with 119 total tackles.
Lewis said Scott, 26, is inquisitive.
“Bart is one of those guys who is very willing to learn, but he has one dial-up, and that is finding the football,” Lewis said. “He isone of those guys who is always hungry to play football and it?s really a pleasure to play beside him, because he is the Energizer Bunny.”
Scott is known on the field as a hard-hitter who is pursues the ball with tenacity.
Off the field, Scott has a playful side. When reporters had finished their questions of the linebacker last week, he yelled: “That?s all? I?ve still got juice left in me.”
When asked about Scott recently, defensive end Trevor Pryce looked at linebacker Adalius Thomas and both started to crack up.
“He plays with a real chip on his shoulder and you can?t act like that all the time, so there has to be a balance,” Pryce said. “If you?re going to play like you?re going to rip somebody?s head off, you can?t act like that in the locker room. So, he has two polar ends ? the nasty end comes out on game day, which is good, and the good end is out any time else.”
Ravens head coach Brian Billick said he?s happy to have both personalities ? in one man ? on his team.
“Possession is 9/10s,” Billick said. “If the doors were locked, he wasn?t going anywhere.”
