Hoo-boy. Ray Lewis and Adalius Thomas are going toe-to-toe in a war of words.

Harken back, if you will, to a few weeks ago. AD had just ripped Ravens coach Brian Billick in a Sports Illustrated interview and threw a veiled shot at Ray Lewis, claiming that the Patriots don’t have players that “beat their chests” and how the Patriots don’t employ a “star-studded system” like in Baltimore. His rip was good enough to make him the Ravens Touchdown “Crybaby of the Week“.

Lewis then branded AD a coward for bolting to New England (for $35M, I’d be a coward), to which AD responded by calling Lewis a coward for second-guessing Billick’s play calling (I guess that makes me a coward, too) and publicly campaigning to draft a big DT - Haloti Ngata - to free up Lewis to work in an open field.

Well, it’s all coming to a head. Aaron Wilson wrote a great piece about the Lewis/Thomas feud. Here’s a taste to whet your appetite for some good ‘ole petty fighin’ words:

“You don’t become a Super Bowl champion in this business without having character and dignity for what you do for your teammates,” Lewis said Monday on his weekly radio show. “We won a Super Bowl without Adalius Thomas. The New England Patriots won three Super Bowls without Adalius Thomas. You’re talking about a guy we put in, great talent, but, systematically, we had to fit into our schemes.

“When you take a shot at men that you claim to love to go to war with, I call those cowards. If you got something to say privately, you don’t have to go to a newspaper. If you got something to say to a man, speak it.”

Plus, Lewis took a shot at Thomas’ lack of Pro Bowl recognition. Thomas was selected last year as a defensive player and was selected once previously for special-teams.

“When you find a guy like this and he’s the first to not celebrate with his teammates, you got to ask yourself, ‘Who’s looking for the limelight?’” Lewis said. “You’re talking about a guy who’s been to one or two Pro Bowls. I done been to eight. I can quadruple that.”

I love Ray Lewis. It’s too bad we’re going to lose on December 3rd when the Ravens take on the Patriots in a nationally televised Monday Night Football game. For starters, we suck in nationally televised games. I’m confident that the Rams would have dismantled us two weeks ago if the game was on a Monday — we just fold like a tent in the limelight. Oh, and we’re playing the best team the NFL has ever seen (at least that’s what ESPN keeps telling me).

This should get interesting as the story develops. Ray Lewis loves to run his mouth.

Today’s Ravens Touchdown Crybaby of the Week is former Ravens defensive jack-of-all-trades Adalius Thomas. Apparently, AD had a jolly time ripping the Ravens in a Sports Illustrated interview, sparing no one. His caterwauling makes him… the Crybaby of the Week!

Let it be known that Adalius Thomas took the first shot in the December 3, 2007 bulletin board material game.

I was reading the Baltimore Sun’s Ravens Central blog, and found this gem, care of Edward Lee:

In the latest edition of Sports Illustrated, Thomas compared his former employer and his current employer, the New England Patriots. Thomas unleashed the first volley in what could be a prelude to more bad blood between the teams until their Monday night showdown on Dec. 3 at M&T Bank Stadium with this this statement:

“You’ve got to remember, I’m coming in from Baltimore,” Thomas told the magazine. “People there wanted the limelight, people sought out the limelight, starting with the head coach. It was a star-studded system. Here, 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.”

Well, that sure was unwarranted. But hey, it’s a business. AD is certainly entitled to his opinion… and he must realize that he’s just made the bulletin board and pissed off a locker room full of defensive ’stars’. You know, stars like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. Pro Bowlers like Terrell Suggs and Bart Scott. Dominant players like Trevor Pryce and Samari Rolle. And how about Chris McAlister and the underrated Kelly Gregg?

Hell, we’re barely scratching the surface.

The sad thing is that those players all pale in comparison to the best team in the known universe: the New England Patriots. Aw, shucks! They’re just so adorable!

All pleasantries aside, you gotta love Billick’s smart-ass response, though:

Billick at first tried to be diplomatic, declining to respond. But not more than a second later, he asked rhetorically, “Was AD one of those guys concerned about being in the limelight when he was here?”

I guess being a New England Patriot means you’ve gotta be a smug Masshole.

Congratulations, Adalius! You’ve joined the elite company of Trent Dilfer in this distinctive award category.

We’ve got a new feature here at Ravens Touchdown — the Crybaby of the Week.

The Baltimore Sun is reporting that former Ravens QB Trent Dilfer publicly apologized to Brian Billick for his decision to move the franchise in a different direction after winning Super Bowl XXXV.

“I want to use this opportunity to publicly apologize to Brian for that bitterness,” Dilfer told Baltimore reporters in a conference call yesterday. “I’m going to make a point to see him on Sunday. He’s been the man in this deal and I haven’t. I’ve been the childish one, and I want to end that right now.”

“I recognize they had a tough decision as an organization. I disagree with it still to this day,” Dilfer said. “[But] just because I disagree with it doesn’t mean I can’t let it go. This is a great opportunity this week to let it go.”

“I think I’ve grown up as a man. You’re always trying to get better. As my parenting becomes a lot more serious, I feel hypocritical because I feel like I’m trying to teach things that I haven’t done on my own.”

While Dilfer’s apology is nice, he cried a river from Baltimore to Seattle, from Seattle to Cleveland and from Cleveland to San Francisco. So after 7 years and nearly 7,000 miles of caterwauling, he’s finally ready to bury the hatchet and move on.

Dilfer’s trail of tears was quite impressive…

Finally, one hangover from last week: Jamal Lewis didn’t “shut up” the Ravens, and I’m sick of hearing about it. He had a typical-for-older-Jamal-Lewis game on the ground, with the obvious exception being the 28-yard run. Later in the game, while the officials rang Lewis up with a touchdown, he did not pierce the end zone with the football. If Billick could have tossed out his challenge flag quick enough, the touchdown would have easily been nullified. Did Lewis have an ‘outstanding’ game, like Mike Preston of the Baltimore Sun stated in his chat earlier this week? No.

I’m sorry, but 64 rushing yards is not “shutting up” an opponent. It’s what our defense has done to every running back we’ve faced through 4 weeks. Applying that fuzzy logic, if Dilfer throws for 180 yards and one score, did he “shut up” the Ravens?

Can we please stop playing these ‘Revenge’ games?  I’m exhausted.