Ray Lewis: Greatest LB of All Time?!

[1/28/01]

Bobby Carpenter

[TDubbs]

We're obviously all biased here, but it's no question that the Greatest LB of all time is Ray Lewis! Since his retirement, we all have talked about his leadership, which is undeniable. 

 

However, I think back to his early days. Watching Ray Lewis relentlessly hunt down and hit anything that moves is what interested me in football. I had just never seen anything like it, the guy never got tired. His tenacity is unmatched and it was amazing to see him week in, week out dominate the field like he did. 

[Fred Sanford]

Inside Linebacker I'm going 1. Ray Lewis 2. Dick Butkus 3. Mike Singletary 4. Jack Lambert 5. Sam Huff 6. Chuck Bednarik 7. Ray Nitschke 8. Harry Carson 9. Sam Mills 10. Willie Lanier

 

Outside Linebackers: 1. Lawrence Taylor 2. Derrick Brooks 3. Jack Ham 4. Derrick Thomas 5. Junior Seau 6. Ted Hendricks 7. Mike Curtis 8. Terrell Suggs 9. Greg Lloyd 10. James Harrison

 

Suggs would have room to move up as his career keeps going.  Boulware or Sharper were on their way, but careers ended too quickly.  Zack Thomas and Kevin Greene honorable mentions along with many others.

 

No real sense comparing LT and Ray Lewis, it's basically Suggs/Lewis in terms of responsibilities. 

[Sami84]

Inside Linebacker I'm going 1. Ray Lewis 2. Dick Butkus 3. Mike Singletary 4. Jack Lambert 5. Sam Huff 6. Chuck Bednarik 7. Ray Nitschke 8. Harry Carson 9. Sam Mills 10. Willie Lanier

 

Outside Linebackers: 1. Lawrence Taylor 2. Derrick Brooks 3. Jack Ham 4. Derrick Thomas 5. Junior Seau 6. Ted Hendricks 7. Mike Curtis 8. Terrell Suggs 9. Greg Lloyd 10. James Harrison

 

Suggs would have room to move up as his career keeps going.  Boulware or Sharper were on their way, but careers ended too quickly.  Zack Thomas and Kevin Greene honorable mentions along with many others.

 

No real sense comparing LT and Ray Lewis, it's basically Suggs/Lewis in terms of responsibilities. 

 

No Demarcus ware in top 10 OLB?

[cushrinada1986]

Ray Lewis is the best LB of our era and arguably the best of all time. He has 1336 tackles, 41.5 sacks, 67 passes defended, 17 forced fumbles, 31 INT and 3 TD. He's won 2 Super Bowls, 1 Super Bowl MVP and 2 DPOY Awards, 1 of only 3 LBs to ever do so. He's been to a MLB/ILB record 13 Pro Bowls and a record LB record 10 All-Pro Swelections, tied with Lawrence Tayor. Lewis hold the record for most tackles in a postseason, with 51. He started more games at MLB than anyone in NFL history.  Only Jessie Tuggle has more tackles than him.  No other player has 40+ sacks and 30+ INT.  He's been the face and leader of his franchise throughout his career and is one of the most well-known players of our generation. All this despite being just 6'1". His only possible competition on the All-Time List would be:

Mike Singletary
 
Leader of the greatest defense of all time, the '85 Bears; highlights of this magical season include a 15-1 record, a record-tying 2 fumble recoveries in Super Bowl XX 109 solo tackles and 10 defended passes.  Was invited to 10 Pro Bowls.  He had 885 solo tackles while on the best defensive dynasty of all time.  In 1990 against DEN, he had a personal best 10 solo tackles and 10 tackle assists.  Was also below average size, at 6'0".
 
Lawrence Taylor
 
Scion of 2 Super Bowl winning teams.  Was probably the greatest pass-rushing LB of all time; had 132.5 sacks, excluding the 9.5 sacks he recorded before the stat was officially kept), averaged almost 11 sacks/season.  He truly revolutionized the offensive line: the 2 TE formation and the halfback position were created specifically in response to his fierce play; offensive guardmen were used to confromt him on the blitz, a job that was originally performed by the RB.  He also came up with the idea to smack the ball out of the QB's hand for a fumble instead of tackling the QB.  However, his reckless drug and alcohol consumption and soliciting prostitutes set a bad example for players and may have held him back from greater acheivements. 
 
 
Assessing the aforementioned LBs, I would have to say Ray Lewis is the best of the 3.  He had the most consistent and versatile career of the 3 throughout his exhaustive 16-season career.  He was a monster at pass-rushing, run defense and pass defense, a deadly trio.  Only 4 other LBs have more interceptions than him and Donnie Edwards (96-08) is the only modern LB in his stratosphere.  Additionally, his leadership and personal habits were impeccable.  He preached the game and lived a life dedicated to the game.

Dont forget that Ray lasted longer as well, and stayed productive, declining but productive all the way to the age of 37.

[cushrinada1986]

That is just going way to far. Isn't a hall of famer? Might want to rethink that.

I agree, you cannot compare different timezones like that because the advancement of science in the medial field and in training and technology, Some of the worse players today could dominate some of the better players of yester year(The 2012 browns may have sucked but they would have wiped up the joint if they went against the 1986 49ers or Broncos).

[flaccopoe]

No love for Singletary, lol?

[5aiah]

I agree, you cannot compare different timezones like that because the advancement of science in the medial field and in training and technology, Some of the worse players today could dominate some of the better players of yester year(The 2012 browns may have sucked but they would have wiped up the joint if they went against the 1986 49ers or Broncos).

Exactly. You have to account for the change in physical education and technology for humans period. We are stronger and faster than previous humans of course.

[qredett]

I would say Ray Lewis but I wasn't alive to see LT so I may be a bit bias.

[The Raven]

How is Taylor better?  He has the king of sacks, but Lewis was the king of sacks AND interceptions.  Not to mention he was a better leader.

 

Lawrence Taylor was a beast in coverage. He rarely went into coverage because he was a pass rusher. Taylor was excellent in all three phases. He could rush the passer, play the run, and cover. Where Ray beats him is leadership and longevity. Honestly, I think you're not giving Taylor enough credit. Either that or you don't really know enough about Taylor's career.

 

Also, it's pretty foolish to even try to compare Taylor to Ray. Taylor was an OLB. Ray was an ILB. Different positions, clearly. It's just pointless to compare the two. Different eras and different positions. 

[baltravens]

Singletary should not even be on this list. As far as the best, I am torn between Butkus and LT, but I have Butkus, LT, and Ray as my starting 3 LB's. ...Never mind that I have two MLB's or ILB's.

[GTRavens]

If the national media is any indication, I hope Ray Lewis' legacy isn't overwhelmed by the reputation he has as a leader. Because he was every bit as dominant on the field as the NFL's greatest players, and more so than any other inside linebacker at the very least.

[Purple Punishment]

Bears D wasnt the greatest. Ravens 2000 D was the greatest! Its a proven fact and boy oh boy Mike Ditka hated us for it for many years.

[SecretAgentMan]

If anything you should be comparing Lewis to Butkus and Ray Nitchske(or however you spell his name)
Jack Lambert should be in this convo as well

I'd say Butkus and him are on par(Butkus literally enjoyed knocking your ass on the ground. He got a kick out of it). Ray was better leader.

Nitchske was also very good.

Singletery shouldn't be in this convo. He was a hell of a LB but no.. C'mon man

[The King]

As others have already said, comparing Ray Lewis with Lawrence Taylor is gonna yield some squishy results because they played different positions which required very different things of them. In his prime Ray excelled in run defense and pass coverage because he had the kind of sideline to sideline speed which was pretty much unheard of at the ILB position. RBs feared being pursued by him, and I remember watching him run down ball carriers from 20 yards behind.

 

Lawrence Taylor was a dominant pass rusher and a very underrated run defender from the OLB spot. Very few teams chose to run the ball in his direction. Although there are certainly some valid criticisms of LT regarding the level of difficulty he faced in rushing the passer (left tackles are much better now than they were in his playing days, not to mention that teams tended to allow TEs or even their runningback try to block LT through whole games, a mistake no OC worth his salt would make against a top pass rusher in the modern league) it should be accounted for that he also played in a time with a shorter season, and with QBs dropping back to pass on a smaller percentage of snaps when compared to the modern NFL. Suffice to say that both players are great, and that although the temptation to compare them is almost irresistible, it should be done with the consideration that it can never be a precise science.

 

Singletary and Ray are a pretty valid comparison, as are guys like Butkus and Lambert (with the obvious concession that comparing players from different eras is never perfect). The edge Ray has on any of those guys is longevity. His 17 seasons are an incredible number for a guy who played one of the most punishing positions in the most punishing way. Not only was his career incredibly long, but he continued to be a dominant player late in his career. From 2008-2010 he was arguably the best ILB in the league despite the perception that he had lost a step and that younger guys like Patrick Willis, Demeco Ryans, and Michael Beason were closing in on him (although the last two are generally not considered among the best ILBs in the league anymore, and Beason has since moved to an ILB spot, they were all viewed as potential young heirs to Ray Lewis' title of best ILB).

 

The fact that arguably the best play of his career came in 2009 when he blew through the line to tackle Darren Sproles for a loss and end a crucial game against the Chargers shows exactly the level at which he continued to play. Even this past season when it became fashionable to criticize Ray and say Ellerbe was the better player (which was probably true during the Super Bowl run), it had to be admitted by every analyst that Ray Lewis was still somehow making the lineup better by his presence.

 

EDIT: I didn't realize this comment had run so long until I had posted it. If you read all the way to here then thank you very much.

[PurpleReign92]

Ray Ray the best LB to ever play the game of Football.  He is like Mike Jordan beause he made everybody better around him. IWe  a team of defensive players bunch of which  in the probowl just by Lewis pumping them up to release more  energy and that is what made our defense top ranked...

[flaccopoe]

If anything you should be comparing Lewis to Butkus and Ray Nitchske(or however you spell his name)
Jack Lambert should be in this convo as well

I'd say Butkus and him are on par(Butkus literally enjoyed knocking your [profanity deleted] on the ground. He got a kick out of it). Ray was better leader.

Nitchske was also very good.

Singletery shouldn't be in this convo. He was a hell of a LB but no.. C'mon man

 

I didn't include Butkus because his career was so short compared to the 3 other LBs I included.  Not to mention he never won a SB.

[JohnnyBoy8102]

Ray Lewis is the best LB of our era and arguably the best of all time. He has 1336 tackles, 41.5 sacks, 67 passes defended, 17 forced fumbles, 31 INT and 3 TD. He's won 2 Super Bowls, 1 Super Bowl MVP and 2 DPOY Awards, 1 of only 3 LBs to ever do so. He's been to a MLB/ILB record 13 Pro Bowls and a record LB record 10 All-Pro Swelections, tied with Lawrence Tayor. Lewis hold the record for most tackles in a postseason, with 51. He started more games at MLB than anyone in NFL history. Only Jessie Tuggle has more tackles than him. No other player has 40+ sacks and 30+ INT. He's been the face and leader of his franchise throughout his career and is one of the most well-known players of our generation. All this despite being just 6'1". His only possible competition on the All-Time List would be:

Mike Singletary

Leader of the greatest defense of all time, the '85 Bears; highlights of this magical season include a 15-1 record, a record-tying 2 fumble recoveries in Super Bowl XX 109 solo tackles and 10 defended passes. Was invited to 10 Pro Bowls. He had 885 solo tackles while on the best defensive dynasty of all time. In 1990 against DEN, he had a personal best 10 solo tackles and 10 tackle assists. Was also below average size, at 6'0".

Lawrence Taylor

Scion of 2 Super Bowl winning teams. Was probably the greatest pass-rushing LB of all time; had 132.5 sacks, excluding the 9.5 sacks he recorded before the stat was officially kept), averaged almost 11 sacks/season. He truly revolutionized the offensive line: the 2 TE formation and the halfback position were created specifically in response to his fierce play; offensive guardmen were used to confromt him on the blitz, a job that was originally performed by the RB. He also came up with the idea to smack the ball out of the QB's hand for a fumble instead of tackling the QB. However, his reckless drug and alcohol consumption and soliciting prostitutes set a bad example for players and may have held him back from greater acheivements.


Assessing the aforementioned LBs, I would have to say Ray Lewis is the best of the 3. He had the most consistent and versatile career of the 3 throughout his exhaustive 16-season career. He was a monster at pass-rushing, run defense and pass defense, a deadly trio. Only 4 other LBs have more interceptions than him and Donnie Edwards (96-08) is the only modern LB in his stratosphere. Additionally, his leadership and personal habits were impeccable. He preached the game and lived a life dedicated to the game.

Those state are wrong. Ray had 2,050 tackles with 1,558 being solo and 119 PD.

He also had 19 or 20 FF.

[flaccopoe]

Those state are wrong. Ray had 2,050 tackles with 1,558 being solo and 119 PD.

He also had 19 or 20 FF.

 

My stats come courtesy of his official nfl.com page:

 

http://www.nfl.com/player/raylewis/2501750/careerstats

[Guest Mr. Nobody]

If anything you should be comparing Lewis to Butkus and Ray Nitchske(or however you spell his name)
Jack Lambert should be in this convo as well
I'd say Butkus and him are on par(Butkus literally enjoyed knocking your [profanity deleted] on the ground. He got a kick out of it). Ray was better leader.
Nitchske was also very good.
Singletery shouldn't be in this convo. He was a hell of a LB but no.. C'mon man

 

Ray Nitschke

[flaccopoe]

Ray Nitschke

 

Good old horus.  How would you assess Mike Singletary?

[JohnnyBoy8102]

My stats come courtesy of his official nfl.com page:

http://www.nfl.com/player/raylewis/2501750/careerstats

Which are incorrect because they only have them from 2001-present

[Corvus_corax]

I'm not even going to try and be neutral on this one - Ray Lewis is the greatest linebacker of all time.

[Guest Mr. Nobody]

Good old horus.  How would you assess Mike Singletary?

i don't know about good, but (getting too) old definitely lol...

my top five of all time would be: Ray Lewis, Lawrence Taylor, Dick Butkus, Jack Lambert, Mike Singletary

then you have Ray Nitschke, Junior Seau and Patrick Willis knocking at the door

[flaccopoe]

i don't know about good, but (getting too) old definitely lol...

my top five of all time would be: Ray Lewis, Lawrence Taylor, Dick Butkus, Jack Lambert, Mike Singletary

then you have Ray Nitschke, Junior Seau and Patrick Willis knocking at the door

 

Patrick Willis still has many more years ahead of him, though.

[H8R]

Patrick Willis still has many more years ahead of him, though.

Pat Willis isn't even close, IMO.

[JohnnyBoy8102]

Pat Willis isn't even close, IMO.

 

Willis has been elite for a few years now but his 1st 6 seasons still aren't as great as Ray's. Ray had a DPOY and SB MVP award to his credit while still making 5 all pro selections. 

 

There is a solid discrepancy in the big play department as well in those 1st 6 seasons:

 

Ray- 92 games, 19.5 sacks, 64.5 stuffs, 50 Pass Deflections, 12 Interceptions 

Willis-92 games, 17.5 sacks, 21 stuffs, 49 Pass Deflections, 7 Interceptions 

 

Even Ray in his FINAL 6 seasons (ages 32-37) holds up very well to Willis:

 

80 Games, 13.5 sacks, 23 stuffs, 38 Pass Deflections, 8 Interceptions, 5 pro Bowls/3 All Pro Selections

 

Even an "aging" Ray who was a "liability" his final 6 seasons compares every favorably in the big play department with a young/prime Willis during the same time span. 

[Ravens1991]

Yo Johnnyboy were are you getting these stats from? Also is stuff just another word for TFL or is it a tackle for less then a 3 yard gain or what?

[H8R]

Pat Willis is great player, but not the game changer or leader that Ray Lewis was.

[SecretAgentMan]

Pat Willis is great player, but not the game changer or leader that Ray Lewis was.

Thank you.

Now someone tell the Niner fans that please.
Then again. The logic there is

Bowman>Willis>Lewis

All hail Navarro Bowman. The greatest LB of all time!