Ray to teammates: "Enjoy the ride"

September 18, 2010 4:08 PM by Dan Kolko View Comments

Ray Lewis says he'll remember Monday night's win over the Jets for a long time.

Lewis admitted this week that beating his former defensive coordinator, Rex Ryan, on Monday Night Football in the Jets' first game at the new Meadowlands Stadium will rank high on his list of favorite wins in his 15-year career.

And he's been telling his teammates to be sure they appreciate the win as well.

"Oh yeah, that's one of those ones," Lewis said. "And build it up how you want to build it up, and that's what I told the guys, 'Don't try to get to where everybody keeps talking about the Super Bowl. Take one game at a time. Enjoy the ride, man. Enjoy the ride, because that's the funnest part of the year, is the ride along the way.' And that game right there will be remembered amongst some of these babies for the rest of their lives.

"And for me, you can't win a game... As a defensive person, playing against your old defensive coordinator, you can't win a game like that and not put that on your top shelf. It was just that type of game."

That said, Lewis doesn't expect the hangover from the Ravens' big win over the Jets to carry over to Sunday and affect the Ravens' preparations for the Bengals.

The 10-time Pro Bowler says that while he'll have fond memories of Monday night for a while, he's ready for the next game on the schedule, which just happens to be a big division matchup against the reigning AFC North Champions.

"Oh, you go to the next game," Lewis said. "It's over. No, I don't think it's a natural letdown, not when you got swept by the Bengals last year. We've got another week coming up this week, and the Bengals are a very quality opponent, and we've got to go in and have our game ready.

"That's behind you and celebrate it, do what you've got to do with it, but now it's over, so move on."