Manning hopes to bid Lewis bye

DENVER — Sometime after the season is over, Peyton Manning will sit down with Ray Lewis and congratulate him on a job well done.

During Lewis’ 17-year career, he was among the best at his position and cemented himself as one of the most fearsome players in the game.

What Manning hopes to avoid is congratulating Lewis on winning a second Super Bowl. In what could be the last game for Baltimore’s seventime All-Pro linebacker, who is retiring after this season, the Broncos and Ravens meet today in the AFC divisional playoffs. Two NFL icons, each three victories away from a second championship.

“I’ve addressed it every time I’ve played against him. He’s an excellent player,” Manning said. “He’s special. That’s all you can say.”

Special as Lewis may be, Manning has won his past nine games against the Ravens. Only one of the defeats really sticks with Lewis: a 15-6 loss to Indianapolis in the 2006 divisional playoffs. The Manning-led Colts then won the Super Bowl.

“We gave up five field goals to him and they went on to win the Super Bowl,” said the inside linebacker, who returned from a biceps injury last week and finished with 13 tackles in a 24-9 victory against the Colts. “That hurts to lose to somebody you thought you had beat and then they go on to win the Super Bowl.”

While Lewis may carry the baggage from the game six years ago, it’s the meeting between these teams a mere four weeks ago in Baltimore that holds the most weight in the locker rooms this week.

Denver (13-3) won that game 34-17, though it really wasn’t that close. Manning threw for only 204 yards, but Knowshon Moreno rushed for 115 as the Broncos built a 31-3 lead. The Ravens (11-6), playing without Lewis that day, got a couple courtesy scores at the end.

For Denver, it was supposed to be the first truly stern test during what has become an 11-game winning streak, compiled mostly against teams with losing records that were out of the playoff picture.

For Baltimore, it was a humbling comedown, but one the Ravens have spent this week excusing, going with a variety of explanations: Lewis and several others were out of the lineup, Broncos receivers pushed off too much, etc.

“That was then and we’re getting ready for now,” defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio said. “It was almost a month ago. We had a plan, went up there and we played pretty well. Each week we start fresh and talk to our guys about the things that they’re good at, the things we need to be able to limit.”