Over the past decade, one name has been associated with the Baltimore Ravens franchise: Ray. Ray Lewis, a first ballot Hall of Famer, has been the cornerstone for one of the NFL’s most dominant defenses.
His ferocious play and uncanny ability to inspire those around him has been the identity of a franchise which won its first championship in over 30 years by defeating the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV. While Lewis continues to be a force in the middle for the 2011-12 Baltimore Ravens (12-4), the team is turning to a new Ray, hoping that he can guide them to the promise land once again.
Ray Rice, fourth year running back out of Rutgers University, is enjoying another Pro Bowl season for the Baltimore Ravens. The second leading rusher in the NFL has been a major focal point of the offense this season and helped the Ravens clinch a first-round bye and number 2 seed in the AFC. Expectations for the Ravens going into this year were Super Bowl or bust, which puts a lot of added pressure on the 24-year-old tailback to perform. With the bar set so high most would probably expect Rice to fold under the spotlight, but beating the odds wouldn’t be anything new to the youngster.
Ray Rice has dealt with adversity since the day he was born. When Rice was only a year old, his father was killed in a drive-by shooting. His cousin was killed in a car accident by a drunk driver early in his childhood as well. Overcoming such devastating obstacles so early in life has helped him put things into perspective. One person who’s taken note of the courage Rice displayed as a child is mentor and “big brother,” Ray Lewis. “For him to go through all of those things at a very young age, and to muster up enough strength, enough focus, to keep going no matter the pain of death, no matter the lack of size, that I’m too small, all these things and that’s the problem that you have with Ray Rice.”
So leading his team to a victory on Sunday against the Houston Texans (11-6) should be a walk in the park right? Though the Ravens wish this were the case, their opponent has a terrific running back of their own in Arian Foster and they won the AFC South Division for the first time ever this year. The key to the game will be which team can establish the run game first and get theirPro Bowl running back going. When Ray Rice carried the ball at least 20 times this year the Baltimore Ravens are 7-0. You can be sure he’ll have to do it again on Sunday if the Ravens expect to get back to their first AFC Championship since the year they won the Super Bowl in 2000.
