Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis is alleged to have attempted to obtain a banned substance in order to help him recover from a torn triceps injury in October, Sports Illustrated reported Tuesday.

“Deer antler spray” has properties that promote muscle growth and can be purchased from SWATS, aka Sports with Alternatives to Steroids. It’s a company that claims to have helped a number of athletes recover from injuries without the use of steroids.

However, the antler spray that Lewis allegedly asked for contains a substance banned by the NFL. Christopher Key is one of the co-owners of SWATS.

“You’re familiar with HGH, correct?” asked Key, referring to human growth hormone. “It’s converted in the liver to IGF-1.” IGF-1, or -insulin-like growth factor, is a natural, anabolic hormone that stimulates muscle growth. “We have deer that we harvest out of New Zealand,” Key said. “Their antlers are the fastest-growing substance on planet Earth …  because of the high concentration of IGF-1. We’ve been able to freeze dry that out, extract it, put it in a sublingual spray that you shake for 20 seconds and then spray three [times] under your tongue.  . . .  This stuff has been around for almost 1,000 years, this is stuff from the Chinese.”

IGF-1 is also a substance banned by the NCAA and by every major pro league. Alleging that the NFL warned players away from S.W.A.T.S.’s spray because it’s a threat to “Big Pharma,” Key boasted that S.W.A.T.S. is “the most controversial supplement company on Earth.”

SWATS co-owner Mitch Ross videotaped his October phone call with Lewis, in which he asked him to fill him up with all of his wares.

Hours after he tore his triceps during an Oct. 14 home game against the Cowboys, Ravens All-Pro linebacker Ray Lewis and Ross connected on the phone. Again, Ross videotaped the call.

“It’s bottom, near the elbow,” Lewis said of the tear. After asking a few pseudo diagnostic questions, Ross concluded, “All right, well this is going to be simple. . . . How many pain chips you got around the house?”

“I got plenty of them,” Lewis replied.

Ross prescribed a deluxe program, including holographic stickers on the right elbow; copious quantities of the powder additive; sleeping in front of a beam-ray light programmed with frequencies for tissue regeneration and pain relief; drinking negatively charged water; a 10-per-day regimen of the deer-antler pills that will “rebuild your brain via your small intestines” (and which Lewis said he hadn’t been taking, then swallowed four during the conversation); and spritzes of deer-antler velvet extract (the Ultimate Spray) every two hours.

“Spray on my elbow every two hours?” Lewis asked.

“No,” Ross said, “under your tongue.”

Toward the end of the talk, Lewis asked Ross to “just pile me up and just send me everything you got, because I got to get back on this this week.”

Lewis denied using any banned substances when asked about it Tuesday at Super Bowl Media Day.

– Bill Bradley, contributing editor