Back in the groove: his latest injury now well behind him, Baltimore's Jamal Lewis is out to prove that he's the equal of any runner in the NFL

Football Digest, June, 2003 by Tom Worgo

EVEN THOUGH THE Baltimore Ravens made wholesale changes to their roster last offseason that saw eight defensive starters, their top quarterback, and their two leading receivers depart, running back still was their major source of concern.

The reason?

The Ravens had absolutely no idea what they'd get out of Jamal Lewis after he was sidelined for the entire 2001 season because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, the second major knee injury of his football career.

The Ravens talked openly about going after Boston College running back William Green in the 2002 draft, but that plan fell through when the Cleveland Browns selected him before Baltimore got on the board. The Ravens also flirted with the idea of trading for one the Denver Broncos' running backs, but that didn't work out, either. Although Baltimore did wind up drafting Toledo's Chester Taylor in the sixth round, that hardly eased its apprehension. When all was said and done, the team was forced to pin its hopes to Lewis, a running back with a bum knee.

As it turned out, the Ravens had nothing to worry about at all. Lewis was one of the biggest surprises in the NFL last season, regaining the tremendous power and speed that had made him an instant star as a rookie in 2000. Lewis was so good, in fact, that FOOTBALL DIGEST named him its 2002 Comeback Player of the Year [April 2003].

Playing on a depleted offense that had few weapons, Lewis almost single-handedly kept the Ravens in the playoff hunt up until the final week of the season. He finished with 1,327 rushing yards, six touchdowns, and a 4.3 per-carry average.

"He had as good a year running the football as anybody in the NFL given what he had to overcome and go through with a youthful group [five new starters] that he had to play with]," Baltimore running backs coach Matt Simon says. "He had as great a year as anybody in the league, and without a doubt he is as quick as he ever was."

He certainly was the best player on his team, emerging as Baltimore's most valuable player after linebacker Ray Lewis suffered a shoulder injury in early October and didn't return to the lineup. The 5'11", 230-pound Lewis finished only 37 yards short of his 2000 total (a team-record 1,364 yards) to offset an anemic passing attack that finished 27th in the NFL. Lewis' numbers are all the more remarkable when you consider that six of the teams he faced ranked in the top 10 in run defense. Says the Ravens' All-Pro left tackle, Jonathan Ogden: "He came back better than anyone could have thought."

Indeed, both Lewis and Indianapolis Colts running back Edgerrin James were watched curiously by NFL observers. James suffered the same type of injury in 2001 as Lewis did, although James' occurred midway through the season while Lewis' happened in training camp. With that extra time to rehabilitate his knee, Lewis returned the strongest; James rushed for 989 yards in 2002 and had a per-carry average of only 3.6.

Still, it's somewhat unfair to compare James to Lewis, whose comeback was off the charts. It generally takes running backs with that type of injury two years to fully rebound; in some cases, they never make it all the way back.

"We all had our doubts," Baltimore guard Edwin Mulitalo says. "You saw Jamal Anderson, who never made it back all the way. Terrell Davis was never the same. We felt the same way with Jamal."

So how did Lewis beat the odds? In the months leading up to last season's training camp, he stepped up his workout schedule and spent hours every day with a personal trainer to do speed drills for his knee. Lewis also participated in all of Baltimore's offseason minicamps. "He loves to work out, anyway," Simon says. "It's a passion of his, but he worked as hard as anybody to get back."

Lewis never doubted that he would quickly get his NFL career back to where it had been before the injury. "Things fell into place like I really hoped they would," Lewis says. "I knew I was healthy by how hard I trained in the offseason."

Lewis also knew there were a lot of skeptics around the NFL--and he was determined to prove every one of them wrong. "First of all, I really had to compete with myself, rehabbing and stuff," Lewis says. "Then I had to compete with the critics who said I wouldn't come back as healthy and as strong and it would be just a bad year for me. I really had to compete with that, and it drove me and motivated me. I wanted to come back and do a lot better."

And even though Lewis, knee still felt a bit strange for most of the season, it was healthy enough to allow him to do the things he was used to doing on a football field. "Sometimes the knee feels a little achy, or sometimes it's like Jell-O," Lewis said during the season. "It's just weak around there because it's not strengthened to the point where it needs to be. But I am able to hold up where I am able to perform."

Lewis proved that conclusively in a nationally televised Sunday night game against the Browns on October 6. He rushed for 187 yards on 26 carries, including 137 in the second half, to lead Baltimore to a 26-21 victory. It was one of five 100-yard games he had last season.