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          NFL Nation

          Wake-up caw: Lewis responds to Ravens

          • Jamison Hensley, ESPN Staff WriterSep 26, 2013, 08:00 AM ET
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              Jamison Hensley is a reporter covering the Baltimore Ravens for ESPN. Jamison joined ESPN in 2011, covering the AFC North before focusing exclusively on the Ravens beginning in 2013. Jamison won the National Sports Media Association Maryland Sportswriter of the Year award in 2018, and he authored a book titled: Flying High: Stories of the Baltimore Ravens. He was the Ravens beat writer for the Baltimore Sun from 2000-2011.
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          Here is what's happening on the Baltimore Ravens beat in your Thursday edition of the Wake-up caw ...

          Ray Lewis said Monday that the Ravens have a leadership void. His former teammates took exception to that on Wednesday (quarterback Joe Flacco said, "Ray should know better.") Now, Lewis is responding to the Ravens' response.

          Follow that?

          "I'm totally confused with how someone can take something and make more of it, when what I was saying was so general," Lewis told USA Today. "If anybody takes offense to that, I don't get it. What did I say that was so bad?"

          Well, the Ravens didn't take too kindly to Lewis' comments Monday that the Ravens are "missing leadership right now" because they are without him or Ed Reed in the locker room. This followed a report about wide receiver Jacoby Jones getting hurt in a party bus.

          Lewis told the newspaper that he received countless text messages Wednesday.

          "It's like, 'How can you attack your team?'" Lewis said of the gist of the messages. "I'm the biggest Baltimore Ravens fan there is. When I speak, I bring the locker room perspective. I don't understand. Who did I attack?"

          The Ravens obviously felt they were being attacked, and the leaders (the ones that Lewis questioned) spoke out.

          Here are other links about the Ravens:

          • Starting defensive lineman Chris Canty is optimistic about playing Sunday. He sat out the last game with a groin injury. "Hopefully I’ll have an opportunity to be out on the field Sunday," Canty told Comcast SportsNet. "I feel pretty good. It’s a day-by-day situation, but I’m excited about getting back on that practice field today, being with the guys.”

          • The last time Ravens rookie safety Matt Elam faced Bills quarterback EJ Manuel was when both were in college. Elam picked off Manuel in Florida's victory over Florida State. "I know Matt’s going to be ready, and I plan on being ready as well," Manuel said in a conference call, via The Baltimore Sun. "I watched him a ton on film these past couple of weeks. Of course, I’d love to throw a touchdown on him. He knows that."

          • The team's official website took a look at the chemistry building between Flacco and tight end Dallas Clark. “We got into a rhythm,” Flacco said of his four passes to Clark for 46 yards in Sunday's victory over Houston. “There were a couple of times where I could have gone to [Brandon] Stokley or Torrey [Smith], but you know you have such a good matchup with Dallas that you have to stick with him, and he did a good job.”

          • The Ravens celebrated the 44th birthday of O.J. Brigance, the team's senior assistant for player development who has been battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis for six years. This is the full story from the team's official website.

          • Here's the link if you want to see pictures of Flacco's newborn son.