"It's just the fact that you know some of the guys that are there; I know a lot of the guys that are there. I was there for seven years. There is nothing more than that."
Thomas returns to Maryland as a member of an 11-0 Patriots team that is still chasing history after pulling out a gutsy 31-28 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday night, despite surrendering a season-high-tying point total and a season-high 391 yards of offense.
Adding to the intrigue is the war of words Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis sparked with Thomas earlier this season after the Ravens ringleader took offense to a quote attributed to Thomas in a Sports Illustrated piece that compared the Patriots and Ravens.
"People there wanted the limelight; people sought out the limelight, starting with the head coach," said Thomas, according to the piece. "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."
Lewis, an eight-time Pro Bowler, fired back in a Baltimore radio interview, saying, "When you take a shot at men that you claim to love to go to war with, I call those cowards. If you have something to say privately, you don't have to go to a newspaper. If you have something to say to a man, speak it."
Yesterday, Thomas was not interested in rehashing the saga.
"I'm not talking about that because you're going to take one thing I say and print half of it and put it in the paper and make it into something it's not," said Thomas. "I have talked to Ray. We talked, and all the nonsense that was printed that was half-true, all of that's done with."
Houston Texans safety Will Demps, who played with both Lewis and Thomas in Baltimore from 2002-05, said he thinks Thomas's quote in the Sports Illustrated article was never intended as a shot at his former team. Thomas was seen as a favorite of Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, and Demps said the buzz around the league among players is that Bill Belichick and the Patriots do things a different way.
