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Ray Lewis was great at stopping running backs and passes across the middle.

Apparently, he could have intercepted a champagne bottle that may or may not have been laid across the head of Jacoby Jones by a stripper named Sweet Pea on a party bus while celebrating Bryant McKinnie’s birthday.

During ESPN’s pregame show last night (via the Baltimore Sun), the former Ravens linebacker who is now paid to say things cited the leadership void created with his retirement and the departure of Ed Reed.

“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. “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.”

Obviously, he’s right.

Nothing unfortunate ever happened off the field involving a Ravens player when he was there.