| | | | | | | |  Friday, September 27, 2002
Ray Lewis ready to greet Shannon Sharpe
By Melissa Stark
Special to ABC Sports Online
The biggest story of Monday night's game between the Broncos and Ravens is the return of Shannon Sharpe.
Everyone should keep an eye on Sharpe and Ray Lewis. They have a lot of history together and are great friends. They work out together with Rod Woodson in the offseason, and have been doing a lot of trash-talking this week, hyping their matchup.
|  | | Shannon Sharpe spent two seasons in Baltimore, where he won a Super Bowl ring before becoming a salary cap casualty. |
Ray has been telling Shannon he "better not come across the middle. Just wait to see when that happens."
Shannon is excited about coming back to Baltimore, where he spent two seasons. He understands he had to leave Baltimore because of the Ravens' cap problems. Baltimore vice president Ozzie Newsome said Shannon should be in Denver. He loved Sharpe's work ethic and that he reminded him of himself. But it's as it should be: Shannon retiring as a Bronco. That's what the NFL is all about.
It was no surprise that the cap problems hit in Baltimore. Everyone knew this was going to happen. Brian Billick told me in the offseason that he felt like he was taking a new job. The goal now is to develop young players, and they are asking for patience.
The Ravens roster went from being one of the oldest a couple of years ago to the youngest this season. They didn't like having a bye last week. Right now what they want is game experience for their players, not time off.
So they enter Monday's game with nothing to lose. The Broncos have already stopped three Pro Bowl quarterbacks this season -- Kurt Warner, Jeff Garcia and Drew Bledsoe. Chris Redman, making just his third NFL start, has his hands full. He has thrown just one touchdown pass in two games this season.
Redman said he is seeing a lot of looks that he has never seen before. That will only continue on Monday night. Even though the Denver defense was sloppy against the Bills, it is looking good.
Newsome said Chris needs to gain the respect of the players, and he is doing that. He is a good situation to learn in -- surrounded by young players, who won't get mad at him because they are learning too. Even guys like Lewis understand that. The point is, if the Ravens reach their goal and get back to the Super Bowl in 2004 or 2005, Lewis will be around 30.
Yet it has been frustrating for Billick and Newsome. Jeff Blake is sitting there as a backup quarterback, but their whole philosophy is that this season they want to see who can play for them and who cannot.
Billick said he is always looking for advice from other coaches and seeing how they have handled a young roster because he's never dealt with this type of situation before. He talked to San Francisco coach Steve Mariucci about it. Mariucci went through a cap problem before, and he said it's tough, but it's also a lot of fun. You're around a lot of young guys again, and as long as the fans understand it and people understand what you are going through, they will be patient.
Meanwhile, Denver has gotten off to its best start since 1998, the year the Broncos won the Super Bowl. During the offseason, Brian Griese told me that one of the main things the Broncos worked on was getting better in the fourth quarter. In the first three games, he has completed 16-of-19 for 165 yards and three TDs in the quarter.
We will have to wait and see how his sprained ankle will affect him on Monday night. How crazy is that? It always seems that things like this happen to Brian Griese. The Broncos do have a proven backup in Steve Beuerlein.
Sharpe had a great line, "So the dog stood up on his hind legs and gave him a push? You might want to get rid of that dog or put him in the circus, one of the two."
I talked to Terrell Davis this week. He just had microfracture surgery on his left knee about two weeks ago. He is bored at home, playing video games. He can't do anything. With microfracture surgery, you can't put any weight on it. But he did say is if it is successful on his left knee, he is going to try it on his right knee in three months. At that point, it remains to be seen if Shanahan wants him back, otherwise, he will go elsewhere.
The Broncos' running back situation is amazing -- one guy goes down, another guy comes up. They have Mike Anderson, Olandis Gary and Clinton Portis. In talking to Shanahan, the Broncos are looking at Portis as their back of the future. He had a breakout game last week, rushing for 103 yards against the Bills. Mike Shanahan has proven to be a genius with his running backs. Everyone had said last year he should trade one of them. He didn't, and it has worked out amazingly for them.
Melissa Stark is Monday Night Football's sideline reporter and a regular contributor to ABC Sports Online.
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