Jamal Lewis done for the season, and his career

The Browns placed running back Jamal Lewis on injured reserve on Wednesday night with post-concussion symptoms, effectively ending his season and his career.

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Lewis, who previously announced this would be his last NFL season, has played his last down of football. He will retire as the 21st leading NFL rusher with 10,607 yards in 131 career games.

But Lewis’ place on the all-time rushing list is the furthest thing from his mind.

A source said that Lewis was “pretty shaken up” when an MRI test showed “brain abnormalities.” They may be the result of excessive trauma triggered by a recent hit. More tests will be done to determine the extent of Lewis’ injury, the source said.

The injuries to Lewis and Pool really bring home the wave of concussion awareness currently sweeping the NFL. Recent concussion injuries suffered by Philadelphia running back Brian Westbrook, Washington running back Clinton Portis, Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner and Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger accentuated national attention on the NFL’s need to deal better with head injuries.

The NFL is trying to make head injuries more of a priority by making players wait longer after they suffer post-concussion symptoms. With the amount of head injuries that players have suffered this year, it’s a good thing that the league is being more proactive but it’s still up to the players to be honest when they’re suffering any symptoms.

As for Lewis, his 2009 season will end with career lows in total yardage (588), touchdowns (0), catches (8) and rushing yards per game (55.6). He’ll mostly be remembered for his 2003 season with the Ravens when he rushed for 2,066 yards and 14 touchdowns on 387 carries. He rushed for 5.3 yards per carry that season and had 16 runs of 20-plus yards.

It’s unlikely that Lewis will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, but he put together a nice career for himself and he’ll retire with a Super Bowl ring.


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Jamal Lewis has had enough, plans to retire after the ’09 season

Following the Browns’ ugly 30-6 loss to the Bears on Sunday, running back Jamal Lewis said that he plans to retire after the season.

While he claims it wasn’t just a statement made in the heat of the moment, nobody would blame Lewis if it were. Lewis is 30, has seen his play drop quite a bit this year and he’s stuck on a morbid franchise. So why stick around?

I honestly don’t know how the Browns have won a game this year. Their defense is bad, but it pails in comparison to how atrocious Derek Anderson and the offense is, which turned the ball over five times on Sunday. Chicago’s secondary has been shredded at times this season, yet Anderson found a way to only complete 6-of-17 pass attempts for a measly 76 yards. Oh, and he also threw two interceptions and fumbled once.

I’m sure someone will raise the question of whether or not Brady Quinn should resume the starting spot over Anderson next week. But Quinn has already shown that he’s just as incapable of running the offense as Anderson is, so does it really matter? If I were a Cleveland fan (and I just threw up a little at the mere thought of that), I’d rather see Brett Ratliff given a chance to start before Quinn is given a second opportunity.

About the only reason to watch the Browns these days is to see whether or not defensive coordinator Rob Ryan will get in a fight with anyone on the sidelines. He and Jay Cutler went at it (verbally, of course) on Sunday and it was the only entertainment Cleveland provided all day.

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