This would have never happened on Ray Lewis‘ watch.
A number of Ravens players reportedly were involved in a scuffle late Sunday night while celebrating offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie‘s birthday on a party bus in Baltimore. Wide receiver Jacoby Jones, who became a star this offseason after his Super Bowl heroics, got the worst of the bash-turned-brawl, reportedly suffering minor injuries after a stripper broke a champagne bottle over his head.
Lewis took the Ravens to task for the incident during ESPN’s Monday Night Football pregame show, tearing into the team for a lack of leadership and explaining that something like that would have never happened if guys like him and now-Texans safety Ed Reed were still in the locker room.
“We talk about the transition of losing so many guys, a guy like myself and Ed Reed and other guys that are based off leadership, I’ve said it earlier: ‘Where would the leadership come from?’” Lewis said, according to The Baltimore Sun. “Because the leadership being strong in the locker room and winning games, listen, talent sometimes can win you games. But when you talk about what’s going on off the field, that’s the most important place where leadership steps up.
“When you think about the Baltimore Ravens and the transition that they went through, they’re missing leadership right now. When you have an incident like that, the first thing a leader is going to do is find some way to dissolve everything that’s going on and actually dissolve it before it comes to that type of head or even gets to that point. When you talk about the Baltimore Ravens they’re going to have to refocus and find some quick leaders in that locker room very quickly.”
At 2-1 on the season, the Ravens don’t look much like a team lacking leadership on the field, but it seems they have some work to do with some of their off-field behavior.
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