Baltimore's all-decade linebacker Ray Lewis

 Smith aspired to become the NFL's all-time leading rusher at an early age and drove himself to that height – and took the Cowboys along for a very thrilling ride.

"Talent is one thing," Baltimore's all-decade linebacker, Ray Lewis, said. "Effort and will are another. When I watch plays of Emmitt, it isn't as much athleticism as it is his will. He was one of the best pure warriors you'll ever meet in your lifetime."

Lewis played against Smith just one time in the nine years their careers overlapped. But Lewis had his eyes on Smith from an early age. When Smith was winning a rushing title and Super Bowl with the Cowboys in 1992, Lewis was playing both ways in high school as a linebacker on defense and a running back on offense.

"I'm from Florida," Lewis grinned, "so every time I ran the ball, I wanted to be Emmitt Smith. Watching him and the way he approached the game – he wasn't the biggest, fastest or strongest, but he came to work every day."

Lewis wasn't alone in his admiration. Smith became the flag bearer for Ray Lewis  the common man – or, more accurately, the common running back.

"I didn't try to be Barry Sanders ," said Terrell Davis, an aspiring college runner at Georgia in the early 1990s who watched from afar as Smith won rushing titles and Super Bowls. "I couldn't be Barry. But I could try to be Emmitt.

"He wasn't the fastest guy. He wasn't the biggest guy. But he had the intangibles. I actually tried to model a little bit of my game after Emmitt Smith."

Davis would go on to become an NFL rushing champion himself and one of only six backs to gain 2,000 yards in a season. Like Smith, he was longer on substance than flash.

"The guy was there every week," said Giants coach Tom Coughlin admiringly of Smith. "He was so different from all these backs you see today who are miss, miss, miss, miss, miss ...

"He was so steady – such an outstanding performer for a guy who wasn't a great speed back. There was a consistency to his game. You knew he was going to line up every week and you knew you had to stop him."

But few did. Smith won four NFL rushing crowns and strung together an NFL-record 11 consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. He set league records with his 4,409 career carries, 18,355 rushing yards, 164 rushing touchdowns and 78 100-yard games. Those don't include his two 100-yard days in NFC title games and two more in Super Bowls. Smith has been both a league and Super Bowl MVP.

Smith also played an NFL-record 226 games by a running back. Add his 515 career receptions to his 4,409 career carries and it's logical that Smith was tackled more than any player in NFL history.

Yet Smith missed only four games because of injury during his 13 seasons with the Cowboys. He was a Houdini in cleats, and that may have been his greatest skill.

"His inability to get tackled," said Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome, a Hall of Famer himself at tight end. "You could never get a clean shot on Emmitt. He wasn't the biggest or the fastest, but you could never get a clean shot on him. I don't know what it is. I can't explain it. But that was Emmitt."

The man runs sideline to sideline just like he did years ago," said Ravens defensive tackle Kelly Gregg, in his 11th season. "Me and [defensive end Trevor Pryce] were just talking about how veterans dread camp, but we'll keep coming out as long as we have fun. Ray Lewis is still having fun. It must be something they have in that Florida water."

It's hard to imagine a Ravens training camp without Lewis. The Ravens have changed owners, head coaches and assistants, but the two major constants have been general manager Ozzie Newsome and Lewis.

Like everything else, Lewis has changed. He has less hair and has added a few pounds since he was the 26th overall pick in the 1996 draft. The strength in his arms, shoulders and hands isn't what it used to be, but that's OK. He will never be the player he once was, but neither will anyone else. He set the standard too high.

But that's not what has made Lewis special. What still sets him apart is his passion for the game and his leadership ability. His instincts and experience fuel the bottom line, which is production.

"His No. 1 secret to lasting 15 years is his tremendous passion for the game," Ravens defensive coordinator Greg Mattison said. "He respects the game more than anybody, and if you respect the game, you don't want to let it down."

It's all about respect. On the field, Lewis has been the NFL's best middle linebacker during his 15-year run. There have been other challengers such as the Chicago Bears' Brian Urlacher and the Miami Dolphins' Zach Thomas, but both faded sooner than Lewis.

Even the heir apparent to Lewis's title, the San Francisco 49ers' Patrick Willis, said in a recent interview that he can't accept the torch until Lewis passes it along.

A lot of us in the media used to laugh when Lewis said he advised so many players throughout the NFL, but listen to new Ravens quarterback Marc Bulger talk about former Ravens center Jason Brown, now in his second year with Bulger's old team, the St. Louis Rams:

"Jason Brown brought just a lot of different programs within the team because they've developed such a reputation here" in Baltimore, Bulger said. "It starts with Ray and then the rest of the guys. There's accountability for everything you do, and he's trying to bring that to the Rams, which is a good thing, which we didn't have before where players police each other. I could see it from the first day here that it's something that has been in place. It's not something [they're] trying to instill here, and it's been quite impressive."

That's why Lewis can never be replaced.

"When I see guys that came way before me or guys that are still doing it, it's just a respect level from the way you respected the game, the integrity of the way that you played the game, and that's why I think people respect me and the way I play," he said. "They know that I'm going to give them every time I step onto the field, not just for me, but the team."