BEREA — Jamal Lewis held the NFL’s single-game rushing record for four years after a brilliant 295-yard performance. He was the league’s offensive player of the year in 2003. He passed Earl Campbell on Monday night to move into 25th on the
all-time rushing list with 9,428 yards.
Yet Lewis considers himself the Rodney Dangerfield of elite NFL running backs.
“I think I’m more like an artist,” he said Wednesday. “When I’m done, that’s when I’ll be respected.”
Lewis’ gripe is with the national media, which he feels heap doubt rather than praise upon him.
“I really don’t know why,” he said. “Every season it’s: ‘Does he have it?’
“It’s been like that since I came in the league. When I got drafted the first thing that was said was this is the worst pick in the draft. I feed off that. It motivates me.”
With 88 yards in the win over the Giants, Lewis has 323 for the season and is a yard behind Shaun Alexander for his career. The Redskins just signed Alexander as a backup, but Lewis should have little trouble leaving him in the dust.
“I’d like to pass more (people),” he said. “That’s really my goal, to climb my way up the charts and hopefully one day be one of the best backs to play this position. And that’s that.”
How high does he have to climb?
“For me to be satisfied, it’d have to be one,” he said. “That’s just what you shoot for. I just try to do my job and be the best at it. That’s why I work hard in the offseason and that’s why I try to push my guys on the offense to think the same way.”
Lewis, 29, trails all-time rushing king Emmitt Smith (18,355) by 8,927 yards. Smith played 15 years, and Lewis said he’s considered playing long enough to catch him.
Lewis was the fifth overall pick by the Baltimore Ravens in 2000. He rushed for 1,384 yards and won a Super Bowl as a rookie and has been above 1,000 yards in all but one season – he had 906 in 2005. (He also missed the 2001 season with a knee injury.) He is on pace for 1,034 yards this season and would need another six solid seasons to get close to Smith.
While that longevity isn’t likely at a position where the hits take quite a toll and a sharp decline usually sets in at 30 years old, a spot in the top 10 is definitely within reach. Marcus Allen is 10th with 12,243, and Lewis would need just two more productive seasons to reach him.
“You know what, I still don’t get the respect,” Lewis said. “Every day is still a fight for me. One day hopefully it’ll come to me. They’ll say, ‘This guy, he was overlooked a lot.’
“There’s never a season I can come in and say I can relax, because everybody’s always on my back.”
No one in NFL history ran quite like Campbell, a Hall of Famer with the Houston Oilers. He had thighs the size of redwood trunks and never shied away from a hit.
“He was a downhill, hard-nosed runner that defenses really didn’t want to tackle,” Lewis said. “He was a great back and I liked the way he delivered the punch instead of taking it. That’s how my dad taught me. That’s how I play the game.”
The Browns improved to 10-1 over the last two years when Lewis gets 20 carries in a game. He finished the victory over the Giants with five carries that allowed the Browns to run the final 3:58 off the clock.
“By the end of the game he’s coming at you so hard, the cornerback was just running out of the way,” quarterback Derek Anderson said.
Lewis is fifth among active runners, trailing leader Edgerrin James (11,970), LaDainian Tomlinson, Fred Taylor and Warrick Dunn. While Lewis gets his motivation from a perceived lack of respect from the media, he is sure that he’s earned the admiration of his peers.
“That’s really all I worry about,” he said. “As long as I get respect from the defenses I play, that’s all I need.”
Jim Zorn, in his first year as Washington coach, is in charge of stopping Lewis this week.
“When you look at all the backs in the league you certainly would say that he’s in the mix with all the major league backs,” Zorn said on a conference call. “He can block, he’s hard-nosed and he’s got tremendous desire to be on top of the league, not just a part of the league. And I think that’s pretty impressive.”

Contact Scott Petrak at 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com.

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