I was thinking about this the other day. Ray Lewis and JO became the faces of the Ravens franchise and are both HOF/future HOF players, and both propelled us to winning the Lombardi in 2001, both in their 5th seasons as Ravens. Joe Flacco and Ray Rice are both building up some fair cases on being future HOF players, and both won the SB in their 5th years as Ravens too. I'm not saying Flacco and Rice are going to go down as all time greats like Ray and JO have, but its possible that we will be revisiting that 4 years or so down the line. Both Flacco and Rice have had more early all around success than most players I can think of at their positions have had, both have helped us win a ton of games, and both have matched or have superior stats than a significant amount of current HOF/future HOF players at their respective positions.

There are two main questions for Rice and Flacco if they are to finish off as some of the all time greats at their positions and be remembered as all time Raven legends. Will Flacco continue to play at his recent play off level and put up "elite" numbers and make some pro bowls under Caldwell, or will he continue to put up solid but not spectacular regular season stats and just be a clutch player in the play offs ala Eli Manning? For Rice, will he start to wear down after several seasons of high production that goes all the way back to his college days, will he be traded in the 3rd/4th year of his contract, or will he continue to play at an elite level and be a highly productive back for the duration of his contract and end up matching Faulk type numbers (currently on pace to doing so)?

I hope that both end up retiring as all time Ravens, and maybe win another SB or two with us, that would probably make Ozzie's eventual retirement a very very happy retirement.