“Tell me straight up” – When Ray Lewis got in Peyton Manning’s face over 2013 Super Bowl
During the Super Bowl in 2013 between Ray Lewis' Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers, the lights went out. Midway through the game, the entire stadium went dark and the game had to be delayed as a result. This ultimately shifted the momentum and helped the 49ers get back in the game and it nearly helped them pull off the win.
Lewis and the Ravens made a goal-line stand to prevent San Francisco from totally turning the tides, but it was a scary and tense moment on Baltimore's sidelines. There is a popular conspiracy that the lights went out on purpose.
Lewis confronted fellow Hall of Famer Peyton Manning about this. The legendary quarterback has nothing to do with the Ravens or 49ers, nor the New Orleans Saints that played host to this Super Bowl. Still, he's well connected in the league.
After Manning brought up that it had never happened in 100 years, Lewis got really close with the two-time Super Bowl winner and said:
"You need to tell me straight up, who made that call? Peyton! You're connected! See, now you want... man!"
The game was played between Colin Kaepernick's side and Lewis' and the legendary linebacker felt like the league might have wanted Kaepernick's team to pull off the comeback. It goes without saying that there's no evidence of anything untoward in that Super Bowl.
Ultimately, it didn't matter as the Ravens, led by Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco, pulled off the 34-31 victory. It was after that game that Lewis retired, so it is reasonable that he'd be upset about a theoretical fix being in on his final game and his final shot at a ring. However, that does not appear to be what happened.
Ray Lewis won two Super Bowls
The Super Bowl that nearly slipped away thanks to the light malfunction was not the only one Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens won. They earned the victory in Super Bowl XXXV as well.
In fact, that was the game Lewis earned Super Bowl MVP, so he earned almost every accolade he possibly could en route to a Hall of Fame berth.