Lewis happy to be here
Slotback knows he needs to buff his image
Over the span of his 10year CFL career, Nik Lewis has committed various and sundry transgressions in the eyes of the officials.
But this past winter, the punishing slotback figured he had stepped offside in the eyes of his employer for the last time.
In fact, Lewis was convinced the final gun had sounded on his time as a Calgary Stampeder.
“I thought I was gone,” Lewis says. “Honestly, I thought I was gone.” He’s still here. “It didn’t happen, and that’s just the nature of the business,” Lewis says. “So my job is to go out, help this team win, put up the numbers and be a leader and a role model to some of the younger guys and keep everyone practising hard and striving to be better.”
Sources say the Stampeders quietly explored the possibility of moving Lewis this winter for reasons other than his onfield performance.
The matter came up after commissioner Mark Cohon slapped the loquacious pass catcher with a fine last November for violating the CFL’s social media policy with a tweet that referenced the O.J. Simpson trial.
Lewis wrote: “I just bought OJ’s gloves on eBay. Now all I need is a white girl named Nicole.” He added the hashtag #MaybeALittleToFar
In the eyes of team ownership, Lewis went way offside on the play — so far, in fact, the club considered parting ways with the second-leading receiver in franchise history.
“I’ve always been a jokester and I’ve never meant any harm to anyone,” Lewis says. “My thing is like I just have to mature enough and understand that other people’s perception of me is what matters. That’s what I’ve learned.
“When I say something, it’s not about how I mean it. It’s about how they take it. So my biggest thing now is that I want to be a leader on this team, and help this team win and get us back to where we were last year and finish it off.”
So far, so good. Through four games, Lewis leads the Stamps in receiving with 19 catches for 221 yards and two touchdowns.
His numbers from Saturday’s 38-27 victory over the Montreal Alouettes aren’t exactly eye-popping (five catches for 41 yards and a touchdown.) Even still, the team presented him with the game ball for offensive player of the game.
“He’s been excellent,” says offensive co-ordinator Dave Dickenson. “He made a great play on a short throw. He broke a few tackles. On secondand-10, they had us covered, and two or three guys could have tackled him. That’s what got us our first points. If he doesn’t make that effort and come up with that play, who knows if we’re able to make the comeback that we did.
“He also crushed a guy blocking to set up a great run for us. So he does a lot of things that a lot of people don’t notice.”
Now if Lewis can go unnoticed off the field, the Stamps will be all the more thrilled.
“The organization just wants quality people on and off the field,” Dickenson says. “I really believe Nik is quality. He’s always willing, in my opinion, to sacrifice and do what it takes to win.
“It’s just the odd time when he gets himself too bored at home, and he needs to get off the computer.”
On the field, Lewis is a bit of a freak of nature. Listed at five-foot-10, 240 pounds, he looks more like a sawed-off defensive end than a prototypical receiver.
But no one can argue with the results.
“He needs to make sure he stays in good shape,” Dickenson says. “But his effectiveness hasn’t necessarily been from outrunning people. He has great hands. He has great body control, as you can tell. He’s tough to defend for the smaller guys, because of his size. And then they put a bigger guy on him and they’re unable to stay with him.”
In terms of staying here, Lewis is thankful he isn’t doing a Geroy Simon and adjusting to a new area code.
“When I thought I was leaving, I was about to make some phone calls and call a couple of receivers and see how it would mix with me coming in there,” he says. “But after I sat back and thought about it, I was like, ‘hold on. I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to leave Calgary. It’s a great place, a great city with great people here. I don’t want to leave.’
“I’ve almost built something with a lot of holes on it. And now I’m just going through and cleaning up all the holes. I’m glad they gave me the opportunity to come back.
“And I’m grateful for it.”
Short yardage
WR Joe West (separated shoulder) is out indefinitely. Fullback Tim St. Pierre (knee) is also doubtful for Friday’s game in Winnipeg.