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Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis took to the Buffalo Bills hotel to give a pregame pep talk to the Rex Ryan led team. Now it's apparently causing quite a stir with Patriot fans.
So now Patriots fans are taking offense to Ray Lewis addressing Buffalo before Monday's game? Seriously? This just gets dumber and dumber...
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) November 25, 2015
It's worth noting to fans that don't follow the Ravens that Rex Ryan, Buffalo's head coach, was the defensive coach for the Baltimore Ravens from 1999 to 2008, the same time that Ray Lewis was in his peak form. Over those years, the two grew quite close together, with Lewis even claiming that Ryan is a better coach than Patriots coach Bill Belichick right before the game.
Thx for reminding how silly you are @raylewis "Ryan is better than Belichick" pic.twitter.com/ZZAgP85ggx #Patriots #Bills
— Paul Costello (@paulfcostello) November 24, 2015
Even as a Ravens fan, I'd have to disagree with the overall thought that Rex Ryan can even hold a candle to Bill Belichick. Then again, Ray Lewis gives his own spin on it and I can see where he's coming from.
Patriot fans are upset over what they deem to be unfair for an ESPN analyst to show favoritism over one team. However, fans need to understand that Lewis and any analyst not doing the live commentary of a game can have favorites and it makes sense for a player to root a little harder for his former coach than another team. Also given Ray Lewis' famous speeches, it is understandable why Rex Ryan would want Lewis to give his team a pep talk before one of their bigger games of the 2015 NFL season.
It's also worth noting that this isn't the only time that Ray has done this for another team. Lewis helped out another former defensive coordinator in Chuck Pagano, then with the Indianapolis Colts just last year. The Colts would end up beating the Broncos 24 to 13 without any bitterness from fans or the Broncos organization. If anything, that should have garnered far more interest since the Ravens had would play the Patriots just the day before, losing the game 31 to 35.
For what should be a non-story to Patriot fans is blowing up for no reason at all other than to create yet another us vs them storyline. I know I speak for a lot of fans here, but it's getting pretty old.