Ray Lewis Memories: Keenan McCardell

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.

Keenan McCardell
As told to Glenn Clark

Keenan McCardell was a wide receiver who spent most of his career with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Ravens’ rival in the AFC Central

One of the things I love about Ray is that he was just as much of a competitor as I was. We were fierce competitors.

It was always a mind game with Ray. You’d have to try to out-think him. And I loved it because, me being a slot receiver trying to understand some of his drops and stuff like that, and him trying to figure out my routes. It was some legendary stuff going on.

One game I remember is when I was in Tampa and we went to Baltimore. We’re playing, and I’m running a little sit route over the middle. And I caught myself trying to fake him out, trying to out-smart him. [But] he was out-smarting me. He faked like he was dropping, and I went to sit down, and boy did he deliver a blow on me that I … I was sitting there like, “Where’d you come from?” And I know the defense, and I knew it was supposed to be a Tampa 2 defense, and he was supposed to be running down the middle. And I’m sitting here like, “Yeah, I’m going to just let him go get out of there and I’m going to sit down and get this easy catch.”

And he came out of nowhere and put his helmet in the back of the 87. I was like, “OK, I got to be a little bit smarter with this.”  

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

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