Ray Lewis likes movies.

"In 'Gladiator,' " said Lewis, the Baltimore Ravens' middle linebacker, "Russell Crowe tells them, when he gives the signal, 'Unleash hell.'

"When I do that (Ray's signal in Super Bowl XXXV was the primal dance he did coming onto the field) we unleash things that people aren't ready to see."

An even more interesting film, said Lewis, the MVP of Sunday's 34-7 Super Bowl mismatch who picked up a new truck for the award Monday morning, was the footage from the New York Giants' previous game -- a 41-0 humiliation of Minnesota, a team everyone used to think had some ability.

The hero of the flick was Giants quarterback Kerry Collins, standing there like Kirk Douglas in "Spartacus," with no retreat in him, planting, putting down roots, then stepping and throwing unchallenged.

"They let him just stay back in the pocket," Lewis said, disdain in his voice for Minnesota coach Dennis Green's 28th-ranked defense. "He stayed there all day. I think we got after him."

That was it. That was everything. The quicker, harder and more agile Ravens simply got after Collins, made him move, made him hurry and forced mistakes. The four interceptions and the 20 other incompletions he threw were the ballgame.

"If you thought I was arrogant before," Ravens coach Brian Billick told the media Monday morning through a picket-fence smile, "wait'll you get a load of me now."

After which he spent the hour crediting his players, none more than Lewis, who knocked down and nearly intercepted Collins' first throw, setting the tone for the day.

"Life's about facing challenges," said Billick, a Redlands High grad. "I said it before, and I'll say it again -- pray that nobody in this room ever has to go through what he (Lewis) went through."

Lewis faced murder charges last year, and he remains on probation for obstruction of justice.

If you ever do find yourself in such a fix, Billick added, "Pray you handle it the way Ray did. Pray you have that kind of strength."

Collins accepted blame for the loss with moist eyes, although no living quarterback, given the rush, the coverages and the people implementing them, especially Ray Lewis, could have done much more.

"There was a lot of garbage at his feet," Giants coach Jim Fassel said.

Garbage.

He meant 342-pound Tony Siragusa and 325-pound Sam Adams, speed rushers Rob Burnett and Michael McCrary and any number of other, smaller people who, if knocked down, just kept rolling and crawling -- the whole idea being to get to where Collins wanted to step as he threw. Often, he threw with hands on his ankles.

Adams got more than his ankles on one third-quarter play. Collins said Monday he separated his right shoulder when Adams fell on him with his "full weight."

"I thought we could throw the football on them," Fassel said. "But we dropped some; we misthrew some; we forced some . . . Early on they were making him move. There was a lot of garbage at his feet. Guys were coming around and diving into the spots where his feet were when he tried to throw."

Sometimes it is a complicated game, and sometimes it is so simple it makes your eyes water.

Get under him was the gut of the defensive game plan.

"Big No. 5, he kept slinging that thing, and that's all we can ask him to do," Giants linebacker Mike Barrow said. "He was just going against a great defense."

"The speed those guys play at is hard to simulate in practice," said Sean Payton, the Giants' offensive coordinator. "Both corners (Chris McAlister and Duane Starks) are outstanding. They have a safety (Rod Woodson) who is outstanding. They do a great job of freeing up Ray Lewis. It made for a long day."

Jamie Sharper, Lewis' linebacker buddy, said he knew this game was theirs "during the week, watching film. Seeing how a team like Pittsburgh kind of dominated them. Tennessee and those physical teams kind of dominated them. I realized that we could do the same thing."

Five plays turned the day:

1. Trent Dilfer's 38-yard strike to Brandon Stokley that opened the board.

2. A holding call on Keith Hamilton that erased Jessie Armstead's 55-yard TD return of an interception off Dilfer. That would have made it 7-7.

3. McAlister's leaping interception at the goal in the half's final minute (it turned out to be Collins' last scoring chance).

4. Starks' 49-yard interception return, making it 17-0.

5. After Ron Dixon took the ensuing kickoff back 97 yards, Jermaine Lewis' answering, dagger-to-the-heart, 84-yard return that made it 24-7 late in the third quarter.

"When you take one back," Jermaine Lewis said, "the same guys that are on kickoff (coverage) are on kickoff return. I figured they'd be a little tired."

Even if none of those five plays had gone Baltimore's way, the feeling is inescapable that the Ravens would have won the game anyway. Somehow.

After all, they have Ray Lewis.

"He was all over the field," Collins said. "You see him in pass coverage as well as in run defense. He's a guy that just plays the whole field . . . .

"They never gave us anything, and I wasn't reading things well, wasn't seeing things well. I kept trying to hit the backs or guys underneath, but it seemed like they were right there the whole time."

Ray Lewis, especially. He got his hands on four passes.

Oddly, Dilfer, and not Ray Lewis, was the fans' MVP choice, receiving 106,474 Web site votes on SuperBowl.com to Lewis' 106,119. The fans' vote counted for 21 percent, which translated to four votes. But 11 of the 15 voting media named Lewis, and only one, CBS broadcaster Phil Simms, picked Dilfer. What else could you expect from an old quarterback?

And unlike past seasons, when Super Bowl MVPs got a flood of endorsement contracts, no one asked Ray to go to Disney World, either. What else could you expect from Disney? Image is everything.

"I wasn't going there anyway," Lewis said.

Staff writer Joe Hamelin can be contacted by e-mail at jhamelin@pe.com or by phone at (909) 782-7595.