Amani Toomer blasted Ray Lewis at the Super Bowl in New Orleans, calling the Baltimore Ravens linebacker "a caricature of yourself" and a selfish figure.
Toomer, who was a wide receiver for the New York Giants for a number of years, spoke with USA Today in an interview and spoke about Lewis and how the linebacker creates a circus around himself.
"It's definitely all about him. Once a guy goes to the center of the field, goes into the victory formation on the last play of his last home game ..." Toomer said to USA Today Sports. " I just don't think the Giants or any organization I've ever been a part of, even growing up, would allow somebody to single themselves out like that.
"If you single yourself out after you make a play, that's one thing. But to walk out on the field reminds me of the WWE, like The Rock coming out. You're becoming a caricature of yourself. It's exhausting. I don't know why somebody would want that."
Lewis has been one of the biggest spectacles at the Super Bowl, due to his personality as well as his past. He was accused of using deer antler spray to help recover from injuries this season by Sports Illustrated and of course there is hit past murder trial.
Toomer has made controversial statements in the past and he has a slightly different perspective on Lewis since the Ravens killed the Giants in Super Bowl XXXV.
Lewis said Wednesday he had an "obligation" to his teammates and the city of Baltimore to "give everybody a fair chance to say their goodbyes."
Toomer has spent time with players who try to hog the spotlight, including Tiki Barber, who helped derail the Giants season in 2006 when he announced his retirement midway through the year.
Toomer said he "loves" Lewis as a player and called him a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but admitted he has shortcomings as well.
"If you want to say you're Mr. Religious and all of that, have a clean record. Don't say all of that stuff if you know there's stuff that might come back," Toomer said. "Those are the things that, when I look at him, I just think hypocrisy."
Lewis has been a controversial player for all of his career and he had a lot of media attention after the Sports Illustrated report. On Tuesday, Sports Illustrated reported that Lewis reached out to Sports with Alternatives to Steroids (SWATS) owner Mitch Ross to obtain deer-antler velvet extract, which contains IGF-1, which is on the NFL's list of banned substances. Using the spray would be a violation of the NFL's steroids policy. The deer-antler spray is supposed to be sprayed under the tongue and could have helped Lewis speed his recovery from a torn right triceps. Lewis missed 10 games with the injury.
The Baltimore Ravens linebacker denies using any banned substance and said that he was "agitated" with Sports Illustrated allegations.
On Wednesday, Lewis spoke more about the report and said that he was "agitated" with the controversy taking place at the Super Bowl in New Orleans.
"I'm never angry. I'm too blessed to be stressed," the Baltimore Ravens linebacker said when told that he seemed angry. "You can use a different word. You can use the word agitated because I'm here to win the Super Bowl. I'm not here to entertain somebody that doesn't affect that one way or another. The word agitated is probably better."
Lewis continued to hammer home those claims on Wednesday.
"Our world is a very secret society. We try to protect our world as much as we can. When you let cowards come in and do things like that, to try to disturb something. I've said it before and I've said a million times, the reason why I'm smiling is because it's so funny of a story."
Lewis said he would not allow the story to distract or overwhelm the Ravens as they prepare for the Super Bowl.
"I've been in this game for 17-plus good years, and I have a heck of relationship and too much respect for the business and my body to ever violate like that. For me and my teammates, I promise you that we have a strong group of men that don't bend too much and we keep pushing forward. So, it's not a distraction for us," he said.
