PATS’ LEWIS EVER ELUSIVE
Dynamic RB sheds attention as quickly as would-be tacklers
FOXBORO — At times, one wonders if Dion Lewis purposefully avoids the limelight.
The running back has rarely appeared at open locker rooms with the media this season. The majority of his conversations with reporters come only after games, when he stands in front of a huge pack of cameras and microphones with one matter-offact answer after another.
But even though Lewis might not bring attention upon himself, his play cannot be ignored. He is the central figure for one of the most unique statistics on the team: When Lewis has been in the gameday lineup over the last two seasons, the Patriots are 16-0.
How much cause and effect there is between Lewis and the perfect record when he’s in the lineup is difficult to measure, but there’s no doubt that the 5-foot-8, 195-pounder benefits his team in a number of ways. And as the Pats prepare to tackle the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI next Sunday in Houston, one has to expect Lewis to have an impact.
Putting in the work
When Lewis suffered an ACL tear on Nov. 8, 2015, against Washington, it wiped out a promising season in which he was becoming one of the more versatile weapons on the offense. To that point, he had 234 yards rushing and 388 receiving with four offensive touchdowns in seven games and, in averaging 7.3 yards per touch, was on a pace to obliterate the team record for that stat.
But even though there was doubt as to how well he could recover, his fellow running backs knew the strength of Lewis’ resolve could overcome it.
Tyler Gaffney may be relegated to the practice squad, but he knows a thing or two about what it’s like for a running back to recover from knee and foot injuries, having spent the previous two years on injured reserve.
“(Lewis) was extremely professional about coming back,” Gaffney said. “You can tell when guys want it and when guys are just trying to get through it in terms of rehabbing. Dion wanted it. Dion wanted to come back. He had a lot to prove to himself, a lot to prove to I guess everybody out there. He went about his business. He was in here early and left late, and that’s all you can ask for out of a guy who’s trying to rehab.”
Brandon Bolden likened Lewis’ personality and ability to fight back with the way he runs. Even though Lewis is a smaller back, he doesn’t get rattled when hit by a bigger player. He is quite simply unfazed by adversity on the field or off it.
“That’s something you really notice about him,” Bolden said. “A lot doesn’t get on his bad side. He doesn’t let things bother him. He’s really the ‘next play, next opportunity’ type of person. You can really see that through his play.”
As Gaffney alluded, not every player attacks his rehab the same way Lewis did. It can be easy to let an injury derail one’s career. The work to get back on the field is arduous, unrelenting. But Lewis’ perseverance prevailed.
“It’s a testament to the person Dion really is,” Bolden said. “I don’t know personally, but you hear stories of guys who put it in the tank a year after trying to get back going. But Dion, he took it in stride and he came back like he never left. I mean, that’s just a true testament of the type of person he is.”
Return to top form
Lewis’ recovery was not without its setbacks. Over the summer he needed surgery to repair a fractured patella. He finally returned to practice in October and was activated off the physically unable to perform list before the Week 10 game against the Seahawks, but was a gameday inactive. He was in the starting lineup the following week against the 49ers, and started five of the last eight games, playoffs included.
But it can be argued that while Lewis flashed some of the same elusiveness and explosion in the games leading up to it, he was not truly back until the Week 15 trip to Denver, a 16-3 win over the Broncos. He carried the ball a career-high 18 times for 95 yards. In the games that followed, he carried the ball 16, 11 and 13 times in wins over the Jets, Dolphins and Texans, respectively.
And in the divisional round win against the Texans, he became the first player in history to score running, receiving and return touchdowns in a single playoff game.
Although his role was more limited with just six carries against the Steelers last week, Lewis is without question back to where the team hoped he’d be after his long recovery.
“It was one of those things, you know you wish the best for the guy,” Bolden said. “You don’t really know what’s going on with him internally. You really don’t have time to be like, ‘Hey man, are you OK?’ It was one of those situations where it was like, ‘ He did not look bad and I hope he’s alright.’ He dealt with what he dealt with and he came back even stronger.”
LeGarrette Blount couldn’t contain his excitement for Lewis and joked that during Super Bowl week, “Y’all going to see him all over my social media. He’s going to be like a kid in the candy store.”
That level of attention may or may not be what Lewis wants, but given what he’s overcome in the last year, he probably won’t mind.