Defensive linemen are fond of saying they work in the trenches. The Ravens' Justin Bannan has actually dug them.
As a teenager growing up in Fair Oaks, Calif., Bannan spent every summer excavating ditches, building houses and pouring concrete for his father's construction company. The labor was intensive and backbreaking, Bannan said.
"I was the low man on the totem pole," he said. "I had an older brother [Jason]. Any bad job there was to get, I got it. There were a few jobs that I can remember that were brutal, especially out in Sacramento in that heat when you had 107-, 108-degree days."
As oppressive as those conditions might have been, Bannan credits those experiences with building the work ethic he uses as a defensive tackle. Bannan said his parents instilled in him the value of earning his due.
"Nothing was given to you, and that's very important because it's true in life," he said. "You've got to have that base and know how to work. ... The one thing that the coaches know is that I will show up, I will go to work and I will do the best I can for them every day."
Bannan, 29, has been a major contributor for the Ravens. Filling in for injured nose tackle Kelly Gregg, Bannan has made eight tackles (second among the defensive linemen behind Haloti Ngata's 10) and a sack in two starts this season.
At 6 feet 3, 310 pounds, Bannan has helped the Ravens rank first in the NFL in total defense (161.5 yards allowed per game).
His teammates have known what some Ravens fans are just beginning to learn about Bannan: He's strong, he's quick and he doesn't stop until the whistle sounds.
"He's always been playing really good," linebacker-defensive end Terrell Suggs said. "He's just been in the shadow of Haloti and Kelly Gregg. ... He's always been very productive and a very good player, and I think you all are just starting to notice it."
A fifth-round draft pick of Buffalo in 2002, Bannan spent four seasons with the Bills before plunging into free agency in March 2006. But his stay on the market was short-lived, as the Ravens offered Bannan a four-year deal with a $3 million signing bonus without even bringing him in for a physical.
"I hadn't even come out here to see anything," Bannan recalled. "And they had to take a leap of faith to take me without bringing me in and saying, 'Hey, this is what we're going to offer you.' That was different."
