THE latest, maybe greatest rea son the Jets need Brett Favre to retire is the real chance to bring Ray Lewis, the best leader in the sport, to Gang Green.
Lewis yesterday opened the door to a reunion with new Jets coach Rex Ryan should the Ravens let him swim across the inviting free-agent waters.
Lewis said he would like to play with Favre, but for the Jets, a financial choice between the 39-year-old Favre ($13 million) and the soon-to-be-34-year-old Lewis is a no-brainer. The choice has to be Lewis.
Lewis becomes the most intimidating defensive player the Jets have had since Joe Klecko the day he shows up.
He becomes the best middle linebacker New York football has seen since Harry Carson.
Broadway Ray can sell you those PSLs, Woody Johnson, and even better, he can help Ryan immediately build the tough, mean, nasty, intimidating 3-4 defense that the bold rookie coach has promised.
Just imagine a young version of Ray Lewis – David Harris – and the real Ray Lewis in the middle of that 3-4 defense that Lewis knows like the back of his hand.
“We won a Super Bowl together, you know, the mentality that we both have when we sit down and just understand each other and understand what’s best for our defense and things, what’s best for our team. . . . that relationship by itself is a match,” Lewis said, referring to his time with Ryan. “That opportunity by itself seems attractive. It’s like Wow!
“If something does happen where I’m not back in Baltimore, hmmmm. . . . the Jets wouldn’t be bad.”
Carson said he thinks Lewis can help the Jets.
“I think Ray’s a great player. He’s one of the best players of his generation,” Carson said yesterday from Hawaii. “And if you want to win now, I think he would be a tremendous asset for the Jet organization. . . . But you have to make sure that the team has players around him who are the same kind of player he is. You have to have guys who are very aggressive, guys who want to attack the football and go after people and have the same mindset.”
Carson wonders why a fixture like Lewis would want to start his Hall of Fame career over somewhere else, but recognizes that anything is possible. Hall of Fame Harry was asked if he considers Lewis a throwback.
“He is as close to a throwback as anybody else out there,” Carson said. “Because he’s about going to the ball and making tackles, and when he gets to the ball carrier, you know he’s been there.”
Klecko seconds the emotion.
“If they want to bring the attacking style Rex brings, nobody reinforces that better than Lewis,” Klecko said. “He’s lost a step. He’s not the Ray Lewis he was five years ago. But he brings the leadership they’re gonna need to run this type of defense.”
New York, we know, scares plenty of stars. New York would not scare Ray Lewis.
“I don’t feel no pressure, not about playing football,” Lewis said.
See the ball carrier, blow up the ball carrier. That’s 52’s game.
“I just think when you have that media capital like that, I think the upside of it is what’s more attractive than anything,” Lewis said. “You go take a young Jet team who has a lot of talent across the board where you’re trying to wiggle a 52 in that equation somewhere, then that team goes from just being OK to let’s just win this. So that scenario by itself is always attractive.”
You can’t go win This unless you have a general. Lewis was a general when he led a ravenous defense over the Giants in Super Bowl XXXV and he remains a general now.
“In any capacity now when you have a team, you have to deal with one general, and everybody’ll follow,” Lewis said. “Sometimes a lot of coaches like to be that guy, but in our times now, that’s a player, somewhere.”
That’s Lewis.
“Show ’em the way,” is how Klecko puts it.
Jerry Jones is reportedly willing to give Lewis a three-year deal worth between $27 million and $30 million, with $25 million guaranteed. Asked if he could play with T.O., Lewis said: “I can play with anybody.”
Play with the Jets.