Ray Lewis wasn't going out that way.
Forced to the sideline late in the Week 6 home game against the Dallas Cowboys, the Ravens' middle linebacker and emotional leader flexed and shook his right arm as pain seared from his elbow to his shoulder.
He dressed and left quickly afterward, declining to talk to the media after Baltimore's 31-29 win, fueling speculation that the injury was serious, confirmed the next day when it was announced Lewis had a torn triceps.
It was widely reported that Lewis' season was over. Maybe his career, too. But that wasn't the future Hall of Famer's mindset. He called general manager Ozzie Newsome and said not to place him on the season-ending Injured Reserve list.
"Trust me, I will be back," Lewis told him.
Newsome trusted Lewis, as he has since he selected Lewis with the 26th overall pick in the 1996 NFL draft.
"People were saying [he would be out] 11 weeks, 12 weeks, but I was saying, 'If anybody can get themselves ready to play sooner it would be Ray Lewis,'" Newsome recalled last week. "He had a 10-week break and now he is getting better and fresher as we go forward."
Indeed, Lewis returned for the playoffs, after first announcing his retirement effective at the end of the season. And he has 44 tackles in three games. That's not just more than any other player this postseason, it's 18 more.
"His leadership, obviously, is really important for us," coach John Harbaugh said. "Also, as a football player, he has played really well. He's played just like he's always played."
His play and his ability to inspire his teammates have helped propel the Ravens to Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans, where they'll play the San Francisco 49ers today.
It's overstating it to say the Ravens are playing for Lewis during his "last ride." Clearly, though, his imminent retirement has been a motivating factor.
"It really focused our team," outside linebacker Terrell Suggs said of Lewis' retirement announcement. "Not only to get it done for him, but just how precious this time and these moments are."
Said safety Ed Reed: "Of course we want to send him off the right way."
Lewis isn't the same player he was 12 years ago, when he was named MVP after the Ravens beat the New York Giants 34-7 in Super Bowl XXXV.
But he said he makes up for it with his knowledge of the game - and having 10 weeks to rest up hasn't hurt.
"My mind is probably as sharp as it is going to be," he said last week. "I feel fresh. My mind is fresh, my body is fresh and I'm just excited to really be able to end this thing the right way."
Just as he was 12 years ago in Tampa, Lewis has been a lightning rod in the lead-up to the Super Bowl.
Then, he was besieged about his involvement in a double-murder after the previous year's Super Bowl (for which he accepted a misdemeanor obstruction plea).
Questions about that incident remain, and he generally deflects by talking about how much he has grown as a man since then, but he also had to field questions about his taking deer antler extract, which contains a substance banned by the NFL,as he rehabbed his injury.
He refused to talk about that during media day on Tuesday, when Sports Illustrated broke the story. But his team stood behind him, as always.
Many of Lewis' teammates were in elementary school when he and the Ravens won Super Bowl XXXV.
In some ways, they're still in class, learning from a 17-year veteran who has been selected to 13 Pro Bowls.
"He understands what the offense is trying to do to you when you're talking about the run game. He's calling out plays before they even happen," Reed said. "He's seen so much football."
Dean Pees, in his first year as the Ravens' defensive coordinator, has seen the same thing out of the 37-year-old Lewis that predecessors like Rex Ryan and Marvin Lewis saw from a younger version.
"He is the best example anybody could ever be as a teammate," Pees said. "For every young player that comes in to watch a guy that has been in this league 17 years sit there and take notes and look like a rookie back there in the meeting room, to me it's phenomenal."
It's probably no coincidence the Ravens' defense has allowed only four touchdowns in three playoff games since he returned.
"That was a defining moment for the defense. When he was able to go out there and strap up against his last game against the Colts in M&T Bank Stadium, I think that really ignited the team and really ignited the defense," Reed said during media day.
Lewis, who has played more defensive snaps than anyone else during this postseason, is the only player left in the NFL from the Class of '96.
Lewis surely will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Consider to be on Middle Linebacker Mount Rushmore along with Dick Butkus, Jack Lambert and Mike Singletary, Lewis is quite secure in what he has achieved.
"There's no accolade that I don't have individually. But, I've never played the game for individual stats," he said on Jan. 2, when he announced his retirement.
He talked on Tuesday about his legacy.
"I always grabbed someone to try to take them to the next level of being a better man," he said during media day. "At the end fo the day, that is what your legacy wants to be, to leave a great name. Hopefully I did that."
There's one more game to be played
. One more Super Bowl ring to be won. Hoisting the Lombardi Trophy again is the sole reason he came back from that Week 6 injury.
"I always wanted to experience that with Ed, with a Terrell Suggs, with a Ray Rice, and with a Joe Flacco. It's awesome," Lewis said
. "The bottom line, like I told them, I'm here because I want them to feel what confetti feels like."
