Joe Flacco on retired Raven Ray Lewis: He ‘is one of them’ now

Joe Flacco might have given former Baltimore Ravens teammate Ray Lewis the ultimate insult Wednesday, saying the retired-player-turned-analyst “is one of them� now.

When he says “one of them,� he’s talking about the media. And he doesn’t mean it as a compliment.

Apparently, Flacco thinks all media members do is sit around and stir up trouble while discussing things they know nothing about. Which is pretty much true, at least in my case. Can’t really speak for Lewis, who works for ESPN, or anyone else in the business though.

Lewis had suggested that an incident involving Ravens wide receiver Jacoby Jones getting hit over the head with a bottle on a party bus in Washington, D.C., over the weekend might have occurred because of a leadership void on the team after Lewis’ retirement and the departure of veteran Ed Reed, now with Houston.

Flacco had some choice words for the 13-time Pro Bowler.

“Ray knows better than that,� the reigning Super Bowl MVP told the Baltimore Sun. “Things happen. I think we’re usually a pretty good team with stuff like that. If you look around the league, there are probably a lot of leadership problems then. Like I said, Ray knows better.�

Flacco later added: “Ray is one of them for a couple of minutes a week now. It is what it is.�

Perhaps the quarterback’s feathers were ruffled because he views himself as one of the team’s leaders now and sees Lewis’ comments as a shot at him.

Besides, Flacco said, the incident on the bus really wasn’t that big of a deal -- at least to someone in their exclusive club for current football players only.

“You laugh about it kind of. It’s funny, some of the things that we deal with,� Flacco said. “I don’t really have too many comments on it because they’d all be taken the wrong way and out of context.�

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