Sports
(2007-06-04)
BALTIMORE, MD
(wypr) -
BODY:Jamal Lewis could beat you in so many ways. He could run through you or around you. And when this 235-pound man turned the corner, his shoulders square, he was the most-feared running back in the NFL. As a rookie, he carried the Ravens to the Super Bowl title in 2000.
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IC: "My best moments in Baltimore was going to Super Bowl, and just the guys on the team, and the camaraderie we had, the will to go out and play together, go out and win ball games, getting prepared and ready to go. We had a lot of veteran guys when I first arrived there. They groomed me well and got me ready to go."
Lewis was only one of three rookies in NFL history to rush for more than 1,000 yards for the eventual Super Bowl champion. In 2003, Lewis became the NFL back to rush for more than 2,000 yards, finishing with 2,066 yards, the second most in a season behind the 2,105 yards Eric Dickerson rushed for in 1984.
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IC: "That was a big season, something I trained for which enabled me to get over that number. It was a great accomplishment, and just having everything click on the right cylinders, the way it was, it was impossible for us to not get those yards. The way the offensive line was blocking, Alan Ricard in the backfield with me, it was just phenomenal."
The yardage, and the carries, combined with Lewis's physical style, did take its toll. No running back has ever rushed for more than 1,500 yards a season after rushing for more than 2,000. For the first time, Lewis admitted that season drained him.
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IC: "For the next season, it took a lot out of me. Basically, coming back and starting, the way I train in the off season, being able to bounce back after a 2,000-yard season after those carries and after those yards, to start training again, you were gassed and really need a break. But I had no room and no time for a break. It was just mentally draining. I was physically drained also."
After the 2003 season, Lewis had a series of off the field problems and health issues. A failed drug test cost him four games in 2004. He had major ankle surgery during the summer of 2005, and months later, served several months in a Florida federal prison for drug conspiracy charges.
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IC: "The year I came back after the legal problems, I think I was in pretty good shape. I had the ankle injury, whatever, but I was pretty much rehabbed from that. All in all, it was just a profile change on the team in the offense rather than me being 100 percent healthy. I think that was being used as an excuse by a lot of people, but you look at the dynamics of the offense, that's what changed more than anything than myself."
Lewis made a valid point. The man who masterminded the Ravens running game early in his career, offensive line coach Jim Colletto, resigned after the 2004 season. The critics say Lewis has lost a step, and is hesitant in hitting the holes. Ravens Pro Bowl left tackle Jonathan Ogden has said Lewis was under utilized the past two seasons. Lewis agreed.
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IC: " He knows what it takes to win because he's been there and one of the best that's played that position. I don't complain, and shouldn't question the call of the coaches, but at the same time, everybody was wondering where running game went. But the running game went out with Alan Ricard being gone, and just no improving the offense for the running game. It was improved for the passing game, but not the running game. That's the road we went down."
The Ravens started the conversion from a running team to a passing team two years ago, when Jim Fassel was hired to eventually run the offense. The changeover caused some hard feelings between Lewis and head coach Brian Billick, even though they tried to patch things up last season.
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IC: I wanted it to improve. I had no major problems with him. But at the same time, there is going to be some kind of window between myself and him because he is the one who calls the plays. He did give me the ball, he did run me, more than usual for the play action passes we tried to establish for McNair. But I wanted the best for us, for me and him, that we would gel and I would become one of his guys."
The Ravens publicly expressed an interest in re-signing Lewis for the 2007 season. But they only offered him a one-year deal worth $2 million, which is one million under the standard rate for an established, starting running back.
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IC: "Ozzie called me, and my agent sent back a proposal, Ozzie said it was something we could work with. But we're going to release you right now, and then we'll sign you back in the next four or five days.' We never heard from him again. It was like, okay, you gave your word,' which means nothing, but in the past it did."
Lewis started the 2006 season off slow, but played well in the last 10 games, which, is when he started taking pain-killing injections in his ankle before every game. Lewis still led the team in rushing with 1,132 yards on 314 carries.
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IC: "It was tough. But being myself, I want to win, want to do what is best for myself, and what is best for my team. That was it, part of it. If it was going to make me run better and get over the pain I was going through, hey, then that's what I had to do with it.""
Since the season ended, Lewis has had surgery to remove bone spurs from his ankle, which were causing him pain. He is heading to Cleveland injury-free, but the Browns are one of the worst franchises in the league. Lewis thinks he can be a difference-maker.
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IC: "They seem like they are committed to the run game. The fact that they have pretty good receivers, defense is pretty good, just a few key things they are missing. "
Lewis will get the opportunity to play against the Ravens twice-a-season. He'll be butting heads against his old friend, Ray Lewis. When they were in their prime, the Lewis boys could control both sides of the line of scrimmage. Although are both on the downside of their careers, their match-up will be something to see.
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IC: It will be interesting to be on the other side of the field, game planning for the Ravens defense. I never thought that would happen, but here it is, and I'm sure everything will be okay."
Lewis couldn't leave without taking a final swipe at the Ravens.
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IC: "I got a lot left in my tank man. I'm 27 years old. Everybody thinks I'm just a bruiser back. I do have size and one of my other assets is speed. I can use that. I can catch the ball out of backfield and do different things. I have a lot in the tank, plus being held back in Baltimore the last two years, adds more juice to my tank."
That was vintage Lewis. He was always his own man, bold and outspoken. It was part of his personality on and off the field during his seven years in Baltimore, when he was one of the Ravens all-time tough guys.
I'm Mike Preston, reporting in Baltimore, for 88-1, WYPR.
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