Lewis Falls Short, Vikings Fall Apart

Jamal Lewis blew past O.J. Simpson and Terrell Davis in the first quarter, glided by Barry Sanders in the third.

But as the Baltimore Raven running back moved ever closer to Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record Sunday, the once-easy yards seemed to stretch for miles. Pittsburgh’s defense simply wouldn’t budge.

“They weren’t going to let it happen,” said Lewis, who ran for 114 yards to finish the regular season with 2,066 yards, 40 short of breaking the record of 2,105 set by the Los Angeles Rams’ Dickerson in 1984.

The Ravens, who had the AFC North title wrapped up before kickoff by virtue of Cleveland’s victory over Cincinnati, wound up winning in overtime with a 47-yard field goal by Matt Stover, 13-10.

Dickerson was watching at home from Calabasas, and ESPN had a live feed in his living room to catch every bit of the hand-wringing.

“My best friend called in the first half when [Lewis] had 76 yards and was like, ‘Oh, man, he could break it,’ ” said Dickerson, reached at home after the game. “I said, ‘He ain’t gonna break it. They’ll slow him up.’ The opportunity has to be right.”

Dickerson admitted that he was fretting a bit when the Ravens missed two field goals in the final 46 seconds of regulation, meaning that his record would have to survive overtime. But he was able to exhale in the extra period when the Ravens completed a 22-yard pass, and moved into field-goal range on a roughing-the-passer call.

“I knew he’d make that kick,” Dickerson said. “The third time’s the charm.”

Lewis was upbeat after the game, walking around the locker room wearing a baseball cap slightly askew and a satisfied smile.

“I’m not disappointed,” said Lewis, who had 27 carries. “The opportunity was there and, hey, we went at it. We ran good.... It was within reach, but we didn’t get it. I think second is good.”

That they kept Lewis from breaking the record was of little consolation to the Steelers.

“I’m not going to take no consolation prize from that,” linebacker Joey Porter said. “We knew that wasn’t going to happen. We didn’t want him to get to 2,000 yards, that was our goal. You can’t take no consolation out of losing.”

Lewis had never had a 100-yard game against the Steelers, averaging 70.5 yards a game against them. In his last three games against Pittsburgh, he averaged 14 carries.

“If you look at how many carries I’ve had, it kind of adds up,” he told reporters last week. “I’ve never really gotten the ball against those guys. Hopefully, they’ll feed me this week and I’ll get the ball a lot more.”

Lost in the Jamal-apolooza was the rewriting of the NFL record book by Pittsburgh’s Jerome Bettis, who rushed for 54 yards to pass Jim Brown as the league’s sixth-most prolific runner with 12,353 yards. Tony Dorsett is fifth with 12,739.

The game also was supposed to be a tribute to Art Modell, 78, who will step aside at the end of the season and turn over majority ownership of the Ravens to Maryland businessman Stephen Bisciotti. But Modell was at home sick with flu and bronchitis, so the halftime ceremony was postponed until Saturday’s playoff game against the Tennessee Titans.

Modell is one of 25 finalists for election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and surely would be in Canton by now had he not moved the beloved Browns from Cleveland after he failed to get a new stadium there.

In an interesting twist, the Browns were helpful to Modell’s new team this season in two respects. First, Lewis gained a total of 500 yards against them in two games, scoring four touchdowns. And, more important, Cleveland ensured the Ravens of their first AFC North title by knocking off favored Cincinnati in an early game Sunday.

The Ravens got everything they wanted.

Almost.

“It’s bittersweet,” Raven guard Edwin Mulitalo said. “I can’t lie. I’m selfish. I wanted that record. But we needed to take that win over the record, and to go on with that is awesome. He’s the second-best rusher of all time, and we tip our hats to him.”

Dickerson will second that.