BEREA – Jamal Lewis hit the big 3-0 Wednesday.

He didn’t keel over, start walking with a cane or announce his retirement.

He did take some ribbing from his teammates.

“Talk about the ’70s and Ozzie Newsome,” receiver Braylon Edwards said as they switched spots in front of the assembled media.

The history of the NFL shows most running backs go into a swift and steep decline when they turn 30. Lewis’ age isn’t a secret, so he’d answered questions about the milestone before.

“This is what everybody’s been talking about,” said Lewis, with a few white hairs in his goatee and stubble. “Now the day is here and I’m still kicking, still out here running and competing.

“Obviously it’s something that I do well. I don’t have anything to prove to anybody but (Eric) Mangini and the rest of this coaching staff.”

Lewis has been one of the league’s best backs for a decade. He has 10,107 career yards and was the Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year in 2003, when he rushed for 2,066 yards.

But he’s coming off a disappointing 2008. He finished with 1,002 yards, but was bothered by an ankle injury much of the season, averaged 3.6 yards a carry and didn’t have a 100-yard game for the first time in his career.

He had offseason surgery to repair the ankle and is being counted on to be the feature back. But no one knows for sure how much he has left.

His cuts haven’t looked as crisp the past couple of years and thus far in the preseason, when he’s averaged 2.9 yards on 14 carries. He did show a burst on an 11-yard run and a 4-yard touchdown versus the Lions.

“I wouldn’t say he’s lost it,” quarterback Derek Anderson said. “Look at that guy with his shirt off, he’s a specimen.

“He comes back every spring and he’s in incredible shape.”

“He’s the same hard-working dude,” fullback Lawrence Vickers said.

Lewis’ work ethic and training regimen are what give him a shot at stiff-arming the aging process. He hosts several NFL players in Atlanta in the summer for grueling workouts that leave most awed – and in severe pain.

“I thought 30 was the new 20,” Mangini said. “I don’t really look at it as once you hit 30 suddenly you fall off a cliff or something like that. I’ve had a lot of older backs, and been around a lot of older backs, that have been very productive.

“He’s in great shape. He works every day. I think that aspect is timeless.”

Mangini has recent experience with a 30-year-old not ready for the scrapheap. Thomas Jones turned 30 last August and rushed for 1,312 yards, a 4.5 average and 13 touchdowns with Mangini and the Jets.

Jones was the No. 1 back, but split carries with change-of-pace back Leon Washington. The Browns may choose to do the same thing with Lewis and Jerome Harrison, or rookie James Davis.

Harrison has been held out of practice for two weeks and missed the Lions game. Davis took advantage of the increase in playing time by rushing for 116 yards on 12 carries, including an impressive 81-yard touchdown.

Lewis is a willing mentor to the younger backs, but has always maintained he gets better as the carries in a game mount. He feels he gains a rhythm and his punishing style takes a toll on the defense.

“If you go back to my past, I was used to getting the ball 25, 30 times a game,” he said. “Offenses have evolved and they’re kind of different now.

“Over the years, being that I’m smarter now and wiser now, it’s whatever I can get. I try to make the best happen with those opportunities.”

Lewis has reached his goal of 10 years in the league and has no intention of stopping. Despite the vast experience, he said it’s too early to tell if he’s headed for a big year.

“No, you don’t know that until the first game,” he said. “That’s when you figure all that out, once the real bullets start flying and you’ve gone through a whole camp, preseason games and have put everything together and have everybody on the field who’s the starters.”

And all the birthday candles have been blown out.

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

---

Print this story
Report an inappropriate comment

---

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.

Need help? Email Us.

---