As Ray Lewis prepares to take his place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, teammates, coaches, opponents, family and members of the media reflect on the legacy of the legendary Ravens linebacker with their favorite memories and never-before-heard stories.

Dean Pees
As told to Glenn Clark

Dean Pees was the Ravens’ linebackers coach from 2010-2011 and defensive coordinator from 2012-2017. 

Back in 2012 during our Super Bowl run, we kind of got into the playoffs by the skin of our teeth. But we’re in the playoffs and we’re getting ready to play Denver [in the AFC Divisional playoff game].

So every week on Wednesday morning during the season, I would bring four guys into my office, and we would talk about the game plan and what we were going to do each week. And normally, those four guys were Terrell Suggs, Haloti Ngata, Ed Reed and Ray Lewis — pretty good group. And I would talk to them and tell them what I was thinking and what the game plan would be, and then I would say, “What do you guys think?” And almost every week they would go, “Yeah, coach, I like that; I really like that.”

Well, we’re getting ready to play Denver and Peyton Manning, and I go through kind of the plan with them, and it’s got a little bit of pressure and stuff in there, and I can just see Ray squirming a little bit, and he kind of gave me that look and didn’t say anything — he was always very respectful. And I was like, “OK, Let’s stop. Obviously, I can tell right now that there’s something about this and you guys have already talked. So, OK, what do you want to do?”

And Ray goes, “Coach, I’m just telling you we can run such and such” and on and on and on.

So he looks at me, and I say, “OK, Ray. That’s exactly what we’re going to do.” And that’s exactly what we did. And we won.

So the next week I said, “Now, this is my week. This is New England. I got the game plan this week. I don’t care what you guys say.” And he just laughs and says, “Coach, it’s all on you.” And we end up shutting New England out in the second half.

To read all 52 memories of No. 52, visit PressBoxOnline.com/Ray.

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