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October 24, 2007

A. Thomas: "Calling me a coward...goes to something personal"

Hey all --

Well those of us looking for a juicy storyline with these Patriots have one, in the form of Ray Lewis vs. Adalius Thomas.

In last week's Sports Illustrated cover article, Thomas was quoted as saying that in Baltimore, "People sought out the limelight," starting with head coach Brian Billick.

Thomas's quote went on: "It was a star-studded system. Here [New England] it's about as different as you can get. Everybody here shies away from being the star guy. Nobody on this team beats his chest. They just all go about their business. And win."

Apparently, Ray Lewis found a way to take offense to that.

Speaking on his weekly radio show Tuesday, the linebacker called Thomas "a coward" for the comments quoted in SI, and implied that Baltimore had to change their defensive scheme to fit Thomas into it.

(As an aside, generally, if you're claiming that the man's supposed to be like a brother to you, you usually know how to say his name. Lewis repeatedly calls Thomas "Ad-a-LEE-us" and it's "A-day-lus." But we digress.)

Thomas took offense to being called a coward, and then pointed out how Lewis -- in the same interview -- took shots at Brian Billick's play calling.

"I said I played with Hall of Fame players. That was not in that quote," Thomas said. "I named names, Ray Lewis was one of the names I named, one of the players that was (among) great players. The only problem I have is the 'coward.' You know, call me a coward, you got my phone number. You can call me. And I will can Ray personally myself.

"As far as calling me a coward I think that goes to something personal, I don't like it. I will address that with Ray myself, but to attack my integrity, as far as that goes, and say that you had to make a scheme up for me, I didn’t know they made up outside linebacker. I didn’t know that. I know that you [Lewis] were crying about having a big man in the middle to keep blockers off you. I don’t know if that’s a scheme."

The great part is that Thomas said he didn't want to go back and forth with Lewis through the media, but then snuck in that bit about Lewis crying about wanting help in the middle. And in true Bill Parcells form, Thomas said he wouldn't engage in "he said/she said," when we think he could have easily said he said/he said...

Made for an unexpectedly interesting day in the locker room, that's for sure.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 12:35 PM to Adalius Thomas | Permalink