Ravens Top 20: Ray Lewis's Last Dance

We count down the top moments in Ravens history to celebrate the team’s 20th season.

By Max Weiss. Posted on November 25, 2015, 12:00 pm


-Courtesy of Baltimore Ravens

#7: Ray Lewis leads the team out of the tunnel one final time.
January 6, 2013

How it happened: Ray Lewis’s so-called “Squirrel Dance” basically served four purposes. It pumped up Ray. It pumped up the other players. It pumped up the crowd. And last, but certainly not least, it scared the crap out of the opposing team. Basically, it was a warrior’s dance—fierce, frenzied, unmistakably powerful. It was a dance that embodied the raw emotion and passion that Ray Lewis brought to the game.

So it was only fitting that in Ray’s final home game—a Wild Card matchup against the Indianapolis Colts on January 6, 2013—he would lead the team out of the tunnel and onto the field for one last Squirrel Dance. As Nelly's “Hot in Here” played over the soundsystem, Lewis puffed out his chest, screamed, yanked some turf off the ground, and went into his famous gyrations. The crowd, predictably, went nuts. Ray’s teammates when nuts. And although the cameras weren’t trained on them at the time, we have a feeling the Colts players collectively gulped.

We all want the greatest players of the game to go out in a blaze of glory, and that’s exactly what Ray did. The Ravens won that game against the Colts. And then they beat the Broncos, the Patriots, and finally, the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII. It turns out Ray was able to do his Squirrel Dance one last time—at the Super Bowl victory celebration.


All season long, we'll be counting down the Ravens top moments in franchise history to celebrate the team's 20th season in Baltimore. Take a look back at what moments we've chronicled so far.

#20: Naming the Team

#19: Testaverde Throws for 429 Yards

#18: Ring of Honor

#17: Terrell Suggs Becomes Thigh Master

#16: The Insane Final Minutes of the Vikings Snow Game

#15: Torrey Smith's Emotional Win Over Patriots

#14: Peter Boulware Gets Four Sacks in a Single Game

#13: Justin Tucker Nails a 61-Yard Field Goal to Beat Detroit

#12: Flacco Connects With Ray Rice on Fourth and 29

#11: Ray Lewis Strips Eddie George in 2000 Playoffs

#10: Ed Reed's 106-yard Interception Return Against the Browns

#9: Jamal Lewis Rushes For 295 Yards Against the Browns

#8: First Game in (New) Franchise History



Max Weiss is the managing editor of Baltimore and a film and pop culture critic.
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