| TAMPA, Fla. — Maybe it seemed like Ravens MLB Ray
Lewis was Superman in football pads this season on his way to winning NFL MVP honors. After
all, he had a whopping 187 tackles during the regular season, miles ahead of the
team’s runner-up. Here’s a little secret, however. Superman is a one-man
wrecking crew who needs no help. Lewis, like any NFL superstar, still needs a little help
from his friends. During this season, Lewis got more than a little help. He got a lot of
help.
"There’s so many times when you watch tape when Ray Lewis is unblocked,"
said Giants RB Tiki Barber. "And when you have an athlete that’s as big and fast
as he is, and is a good enough athlete to just run around the field, not blocking him is
going to create havoc on your offense. And you see that time and time again, especially
because of the two big guys in the middle – you can’t move them."
Meet the two big guys in the middle, otherwise known as DTs Sam Adams and Tony
Siragusa. Perhaps we should just call them Ray Lewis’ bodyguards.
Between the two of them, Adams and Siragusa had only two sacks during the regular
season, but that glitzy statistic is not how you judge their importance to the Ravens. You
have to look a little closer, look in the trenches, look at all the dirty work that is so
critical to defensive success to truly appreciate their play.
Their job is not to make the glory play that you see on the evening news. Their job is
to control the rugby scrum that is life in the trenches and keep offensive linemen off of
Lewis, so that the Ravens’ star linebacker can play like Superman. Their sack totals
might be virtually invisible, but that is not to say that Adams and Siragusa are easy to
overlook. At 330 and 340 pounds, respectively, Adams and Siragusa are space eaters who
draw a line in the sand — a really big line — as if to say that opposing
offensive linemen will not pass go, will not collect $200, will not reach Lewis.
In a way, they are like offensive lineman for Lewis. Only they are not paving the way
for Lewis to pick up crucial yardage running the ball. Instead, they paved the way for
Lewis to win NFL Defensive MVP honors.
"It’s pretty tough," said Giants TE Howard Cross. "Ray is the
middle linebacker and they have two really big guys protecting him the whole time. You
have two guys weighing over 300 pounds, and they pretty much hold down the guard and the
center."
Said Giants OL Glenn Parker, "(The Ravens) have tremendous side-to-side speed,
especially Lewis. He’s what makes it tick. But what nobody talks about, other than
their size, are the two inside guys. They are not just big guys. They are very good
ballplayers. They are very technique-oriented and very conscious of schemes. They do a lot
of things scheme-wise to keep offensive lines off their linebackers. They are not just two
big hulks. They are very good ballplayers."
No one appreciates what Adams and Siragusa do more than Lewis.
"Those guys are my bread and butter," Lewis said. "They give up their
bodies so I can run free and make more plays."
Although they share the common role of acting as Lewis’ bodyguards, Adams and
Siragusa are very different personalities.
Siragusa is Mr. Fun.
"Whatever is on my menu or agenda that day is the best thing in my life,"
Siragusa said. "I live every day like it was my last. I have fun, no matter what it
is. As far as football, if you’re not having fun out there, why are you
playing."
Ravens DT Larry Webster said, "There’s no one like Goose. He’s funny and
serious, big and fast, a guy who will insult you and then do everything he can for you on
Sunday."
If Siragusa goes through life with a smile on his face, Adams is a man of ever-changing
facial expressions.
"Sam is Sybil," said Siragusa. "He has so many personalities. He
switches quickly. One minute it’s, ‘Hi, Goose, how ya doing?’ The next
it’s, ‘Don’t talk to me.’ "
Mood changes and team changes have been the order of the day for Adams this past year.
After six seasons with the Seahawks, Adams became an unrestricted free agent following the
1999 season. Much to his chagrin, Adams was not in great demand on the open market.
Finally, the Ravens signed him and he turned in a Pro Bowl season in 2000.
"When I came here it was, ‘He’s too fat. He’s out of shape.
He’s this, he’s that.’ Well, I’m going to the Pro Bowl. There you
go," said Adams.
Ravens head coach Brian Billick said, "When you leave a team, you have a bit of a
chip on your shoulder and go, ‘I want to prove them wrong.’ To go out and have a
Pro Bowl season, and if we have a championship season, he’s going to take a lot of
gratification from that."
They are Goose and Sybil. They are Mr. Fun and Mr. Mood Swing. They are the guys who
did so much of the dirty work that helped Ray Lewis win the NFL’s Defensive MVP
award. |
