Peyton Manning jokes about playing against Ray Lewis

“Best player I played against on defense was by far Ray Lewis. When he retired, it was like the greatest day of my life. I sent flowers to his press conference. ‘Don’t come back like Brady,’ you know,” Manning joked.

Manning then proceeded to share what made the former Baltimore Ravens linebacker so good.

“He was so big, strong, smart, instinctive, studied film like a quarterback. Always thought he kind of knew what we were doing, right? I call a lot of plays at the line of scrimmage. Felt like he kind of some of those plays. When he blitzed, it’s like he knew our snap count, he timed it up. Always kind of hit me as he was running downhill. Kind of like he slammed me into the ground. He kind of used me to help him get up. You know, whispering in my ear, ‘I’ll be back in a couple of minutes, punk.’ Really friendly guy.

“He and I are good friends now. But when we were playing, he was not that friendly. Let’s just say that,” Manning said.

Lewis played in the NFL from 1996-2012. He made 12 Pro Bowls, won a Super Bowl and was named AP Defensive Player of the Year twice. He later was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Manning played from 1998-2015, so Lewis was a factor for all but the end of the quarterback’s career. The massive amount of respect Manning has for Lewis is evident. He also shared the stories in a great way with some of those funny lines.