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Running for 2,000 yards is no longer a goal for Jamal Lewis. It's a standard.
And the next time he does it, the Baltimore Ravens' running back plans to rush past Eric Dickerson into the NFL record book.
After becoming the fifth player in league history to amass 2,000 yards rushing in a season and carrying the Baltimore Ravens to their first division title, Lewis on Wednesday was honored as The Associated Press NFL Offensive Player of the Year.
Much in the same fashion that he pulled away from speedy defensive backs after breaking past the line, Lewis easily outdistanced runner-up San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson.
Lewis received 29 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 sports writers and broadcasters who cover the NFL. Tomlinson drew eight votes.
Lewis is the eighth consecutive running back to win the award, including Priest Holmes last year. He is the first Ravens player to win it.
``It's a great honor, it's everything that I worked for in the offseason, everything that I strived for,'' Lewis said. ``It's like everything is coming together. I'm actually showing I'm a premier back in this league.''
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Lewis finished with 2,066 yards rushing -- second best in NFL history and just
39 short of Dickerson's record, set in 1984.
``Not attaining that record, that's going to be my motivation from now on,'' Lewis said. ``Because I came just that close to breaking it, I know it's possible. I feel like 2,000 yards is attainable yardage a season. I can do that.''
No one has ever done it twice, but Lewis likes his chances.
After setting a single-game NFL record with 295 yards rushing against the Cleveland Browns in the second week of the season, Lewis had to go up against wary defenses that regularly jammed the line of scrimmage. That made his feat even more impressive.
``The last 14 weeks we've been running against 9- and 10-man boxes,'' Lewis said. ``I'm shocked we got 2,000 yards against those defenses.''
The Ravens' passing game, led by rookie Kyle Boller and then journeyman Anthony Wright, was hardly a threat. So if Baltimore can develop that facet of the offense, then opposing defenses can't focus entirely on Lewis.
When Lewis came up tantalizingly short of topping the mark in the regular-season finale against Pittsburgh, Dickerson held up a handmade sign that read, ``19 years and counting.'' If Lewis has his way, the record may not see a 20th birthday.
``I want to break it. I want to make him sweat every year,'' Lewis said. ``Like I told my boys on the line, `Don't worry about it. We came this close, next year we're going to try to shatter it.'''
AP - Dec 31, 3:37 am EST
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He rushed for at least 100 yards 12 times this season, just as Dickerson did
in '84.
Lewis showed just how good he was in 2000. After being selected fifth overall in the draft, he rushed for 1,364 yards as a rookie as the Ravens won the Super Bowl.
But he tore up his left knee in the next training camp and missed the 2001 season. The long rehab paid off when he ran for 1,327 yards last year, setting up his sensational 2003 season.
Lewis worked diligently during the offseason with teammate Ray Lewis, who rebounded from a shoulder injury to earn the AP Defensive Player of the Year award, also announced Wednesday.
``I'm more happy for him than I am for myself,'' Ray Lewis said. ``I was his roommate when he blew his knee out. I always told him, sooner or later we'll be healthy together again, and it's going to be sweet all over again.''
Jamal Lewis fully expected to join the 2,000-yard club this season, and that's precisely what happened.
``Now I can say it: My goal was to reach 2,000. I knew it was possible, and I'm not just saying that,'' he said. ``You can ask my trainer, that's all he drilled into my head: 2,000, 2,000, 2,000.''
Of the other 2,000-yard rushers -- Dickerson, O.J. Simpson (1973), Barry Sanders (1997) and Terrell Davis (1998) -- only Sanders and Davis were selected the top offensive player in that season.
Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning received six votes; Priest, the Kansas City running back, had three; Tennessee quarterback Steve McNair two; and New Orleans running back Deuce McAllister and St. Louis wide receiver Torry Holt one apiece.
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