Posted Aug 21, 2008
By Kevin Byrne
Ravens Senior VP of Public & Community Relations Kevin Byrne shares thoughts about pressure, competition and Ray Lewis' "pouting."
TENSE
While there is some relief that training camp is over, and general excitement of two home games (Minnesota on 8/16 and the Falcons on 8/28) in 13 days, there is a palpable tense atmosphere surrounding the team right now. Why? It’s the week before we reduce the roster by 27 players. Currently, we have 80 players on the roster. By a week from Saturday, 8/30, we have to be at the NFL-mandated 53 players.
Talk about pressure.
The minimum you can pay an NFL rookie is $295,000 per season. That means we have many rookies on the verge of relative wealth or no job, and no pay. Minimum salaries for young veterans – 1st- and 2nd-year players – are $370,000 and $445,000 per year. Some of our young veterans are on the proverbial bubble. We have a number of older vets right now who are biting their nails as they fight to stay on this team. Their salaries can be in the millions.
It’s a tough situation. Many people will read the lists of names of all the players who will be released around the league next week, and think nothing of it. When you see it up close, it is sometimes devastating. Dreams end for a lot of football players next week. Many have focused most of their energies for years to play in the NFL. Thousands of hours have been spent trying to get faster, stronger and intelligent about the game. And, all of it ends with a brief conversation with a head coach, and, more often, with a personnel assistant who says bluntly: “Thanks, but no thanks.”
Some of the players are completely surprised. Some have seen the handwriting on the wall and have resorted to hope and prayers. Either way, it’s tough.
I’m not sure there is another business that has “failure” like this. You won’t see big-time law or accounting firms “draft” 35 recent college products, place them in a public competition with current members of the company, and then tell the world who is not good enough to be with the firms that year. This “glamorous” NFL life can be nerve-wracking.
I’ve said this before about preseason games: Some people miss the passion with which these contests are played. There will be Ravens playing in St. Louis this Saturday night who will be fighting to make this team. Players don’t get paid if they don’t make the team.
That’s pressure. That’s intense.
THE COMPETITION
Some of our current players are competing against other Ravens to make our roster. At other positions, our players are competing against the NFL. “Yes, there is a possibility that a player on another team could make our 53 by opening day,” general manager Ozzie Newsome said. “Just as we are strong at certain positions, other teams experience the same thing. I’m sure there are teams wondering what we’re going to do with all the talent we have in the secondary. At the same time, we’ve thoroughly studied teams with an abundance of talent at another spot. A player they release could be better than one of our 53. That’s part of our process right now.”
That’s why Coach John Harbaugh and his assistants preach to our players: “Don’t count.” In other words, “Don’t try to figure how many players we will keep at each position, because it will distract you.” The words preached are: “Just play. Let the coaches and personnel staff decide who makes the team. You can’t put yourself on the team. But, you can cut yourself if your focus waivers.”
THE POUT
A number of reporters have described Ray Lewis as “pouting” during the introduction of our offense before last Saturday’s game against the Vikings. These reporters described Ray as ignoring his teammates by sitting on the bench by himself while guys on our starting offense were introduced one-by-one.
I didn’t see Ray sitting by himself at that time. I did see one thing I was surprised by. After we sent out the team, minus the offensive starters, I noticed that the first group did not huddle at the end of our cheerleader gauntlet and wait for the other intros. Players scattered, some running to the opposite end zone, while others warmed up near our bench area.
I did ask Ray about his so-called “pouting.” Here’s the conversation:
KB: “Ray, did you know some reporters reported that you were pouting when we introduced the offense last Saturday.”
Ray: “You’re kidding me…for real?”
KB: “Yes, for real, in a couple of places.”
Ray: “What did they say?”
KB: “They said you ran to the bench before the offense was introduced, sat by yourself, and pouted.”
Ray: “For real. I can’t believe that. You know why I went over there? They were having trouble with the speaker in my helmet, and they wanted to test it and fix it. The guy told me to go over there…Amazing, that’s amazing to me.”
By the way, when we finished that part of the conversation, Ray did say he was happy that we were introducing individual players again. (We started announcing the team as a group halfway through last season.) “Nothing against those team starts, but our fans don’t get as loud when we do that. It’s kind of quiet. You can feel their energy when we do one guy at a time. They love that,” Lewis said.
I then told Ray that we might have to bring him out last against the Bengals (on Sept. 7). He said: “Whatever, I’ll go where I’m told. That game is going to be something.”
And, here’s something interesting – at least, I think it is. Ray added the following when we were talking about the introductions. “We should have other guys go first and last, like that guy (pointing to Chris McAlister),” Ray said. And, we will do that.
It’s funny, C-Mac was actually involved in our practice in recent years of bringing Ray out last when we intro the defense. A few seasons ago, we alerted Chris, who had just had a huge game on the road, that we were going to introduce the defense at M&T Bank Stadium the next Sunday. Chris was told he would be the last guy to come out. McAlister said he didn’t want to do that. I remember him telling me, “That’s got to be Ray. The crowd responds to him better.”
On Friday of that week, I told Chris: “You’re going last whether you like it or not.” C-Mac then grabbed me, Samari Rolle and a couple of other defensive players, walked over to Ray and said: “No, we want him to go last.” And, Ray did go last that Sunday, and most of the times we’ve started with defense since then.
This season, we will rotate introductions between offense and defense – we’ve done 5 games each over the last 4 years. We’ll pick “hot” players who we believe will fire up the crowd the best to go 1st and last. And, we might throw in a special teams intro for a game or two. “If they earn that, that would be great,” Coach Harbaugh said.
Talk to you next week. Thanks for reading.
Kevin
Kevin Byrne is the Ravens’ Senior Vice President – Public and Community Relations. He has worked in the NFL since 1977, when he was the then-youngest public relations director in the league (for the then-St. Louis Cardinals), except for the two years he was the Director of Public Affairs for TWA (Trans World Airlines). He has been with the Ravens since they began, and before that was a vice president with the Cleveland Browns. He has won a Super Bowl ring with the 2000 Ravens and an NCAA basketball championship with Al McGuire’s Marquette team in ’77. He was on the losing end of historic games known for the “Drive” and the “Fumble.” He has worked closely and is friends with some of the best in the game: Ozzie Newsome, Brian Billick, Ray Lewis, Bill Cowher, Marvin Lewis, Mike Nolan, Marty Schottenheimer and Shannon Sharpe to name a few.
