Peyton Manning Meets With Ray Lewis After Playoff Game To Say Farewell

Peyton Manning met with Ray Lewis in the Ravens locker room after the Broncos heartbreaking double overtime loss to Baltimore as the competitors played their final game against each other with the moment captured on camera by a Ravens staffer.

Manning and Lewis have met many times throughout the course of the 16 years they spent in the league together, but Saturday’s divisional playoff game will be the last as Ray Lewis has announced that he will retire after the season. After spending a hard-fought 40 minutes and six seconds on the field, Manning met with Ray Lewis to share

To make his final meeting with Ray Lewis, Manning waited around for about an hour and a half after the media session where he discussed throwing the interception that allowed the Ravens to pull off the upset. As The Huffington Post noted, Ravens’ media director Chad Steele was on hand to capture the moment as Manning met with Ray Lewis.

The last on-field meeting for Manning and Lewis went much differently than past matchups, Yahoo! Sports noted:

“In nine regular-season games against the Ravens in his career, Manning has completed 196 passes in 303 attempts for 2,477 yards, 18 touchdowns, and just five interceptions. Manning’s teams have also beaten Lewis’ Ravens twice in the postseason, with no losses. The Ravens had to know that they were in trouble against this guy from Manning’s rookie season — in a 38-31 Ravens win over the Colts in November of 1998, Manning went 27 of 42 for 357 yards, three touchdowns and one pick.”

While fierce competitors on the field, off the gridiron, Manning and Lewis have spoken very respectfully of each other.

“Ray is just as intense and passionate in the fourth quarter of the fourth preseason game as he is in the first quarter of a playoff game,” Manning said of his matchups with Ray Lewis. “His passion has not changed one bit since 1998, the first year I played against him.”

Though the Manning meeting with Ray Lewis is making headlines this week, Lewis and the Ravens are keeping their focus on next weekend. They face the New England Patriots with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line and the chance to avenge their loss to the Patriots in last year’s AFC Championship game.