To be fair, no team that he has been with on the professional level has been able to take full advantage of his natural skill set, which falls in line with what is known in football as a "lead" back, a running back that can run into a vortex of very large humans twenty-plus times per game to make the opposition respect the running game.
That's what the diminutive Lewis did in college at the University of Pittsburgh, where he broke the freshman rushing record held by a guy named Tony Dorsett in 2009 and was named Big East Freshman of the Year and second-team All-American, plus was referred to by the Sporting News as the "most complete runner" in college football...
...then after a sophomore year in which his rushing yardage decreased but he still managed to keep his average per carry up in the stratosphere, Lewis declared himself for the NFL Draft, thinking that his work at Pitt would lead to an explosive NFL career.
But the Philadelphia Eagles buried him on their deep bench after selecting him in the fifth round of the 2011 draft, rushing just 36 times and catching three balls in two years, which goes to figure since the Eagles top two runners were All Pro LeSean McCoy and dynamic quarterback Michael Vick - but despite the low number of touches for Lewis, Cleveland General Manager Mike Lombardi knew enough of Lewis to trade for him before the 2013 season.
"He was the best back on the team" Lombardi said of Lewis during the Browns' training camp, "We brought him in to be our lead back." But before Lewis could officially take the reigns from eventual-bust Trent Richardson, he broke his fibula in a preseason game.
Lewis was out of football when Lombardi left and the Browns cut him in the 2014 preseason and after a brief stint on the Indianapolis Colts practice squad, reappearing on the football radar when Lombardi landed in New England as an advisor to head ball coach Bill Belichick, Lombardi suggesting to Belichick that he needed Lewis to complete his backfield.
Lewis and his agent, RJ Rickert, pondered futures contact offers from both the Patriots and Giants at the end of the 2014 season, eventually choosing New England because as Rickart put it, "The Patriots find a role for guys. They define a clear role."
His role, as it turned out was to provide a bridge between bruising power back LeGarrette Blount and rookie runner James White - because his skill set provided the best of both in one compact package.
When Blount was in the game, chances were very good that the Patriots would be running the ball, and with White in the game, the chances were excellent that New England was going to throw the ball - Lewis provided both power running between the tackles and ankle shredding linebackers in the passing game.
With Lewis in the game, the Patriots' offense was more dynamic and forced the opposition to defend the entire field, having to respect his running pedigree as well as his skill and elusiveness in the open field in the passing game - but a torn ACL against the Washington Redskins ruined his season midway through it, and a setback in his recovery doomed his 2016 campaign, though he did end up contributing when all was said and done.
But his injury opened the door for White to display his wares, and all White did with that opportunity was to become one of the best passing backs in the league as it stands today, and come within a whisker on quarterback Tom Brady's unshorn face of becoming the Super Bowl 51 Most Valuable Player.
Blount is gone - which is unfortunate, as Lewis is healthy once again and could provide the same bridge as he did in 2015 - replaced by former Buffalo Bills' runner Mike Gillislee, who has faded into the background in trying to replace what Blount did with the team, so Lewis has taken over the lead back role, a role he was born to fill.
Used sparingly to start the season as it was rumored that Belichick wanted to limit his exposure and ease him into the lineup slowly, Lewis has seen his ground touches increase incrementally the past four games, and is poised to take over twenty-plus carries per game.
Lewis has responded by posting a 4.9 yards per carry average in that time frame on 46 carries, and is averaging 4.7 yards per carry on the season - but hasn't been called on in the passing game as much, though his prowess in the open flat still forces teams to defend the field horizontally. The passing game touches have instead gone to White, who leads the team in receptions.
But despite his heroics in the Super Bowl and obvious skill in running the ball, White has been excluded from the ground game, where he still has posted an impressive 4.7 yards per carry in the second quarter of the season, mostly on trap draws with Brady in the shotgun.
Taking some of his snaps for the past couple of games has been Rex Burkhead, who returned from injury just before the rematch with the Atlanta Falcons and has run for 4.6 yards per carry and has caught eight balls for 80 yards in the two contests since.
All combined, these three backs have run for 479 yards in just 107 carries in the past four games for 4.5 yards per carry average, and even though Gillislee has seen his role reduced to the team's part-time four-minute back, he has run for nearly four-yards per carry in the same time frame - so the stable of running backs is producing and their individual roles are starting to come into focus...
...yet the pass-to-run ratio for the offense is heavily in favor of the passing game - 61% to 39% - and there seems to be no rhyme nor reason for such a disparity, it just is.
Which is neither here nor there, as that particular statistic is deceiving since New England's running backs account for half of the overall touches on offense and it has been a long-standing tactic of Belichick's to use the short passing game as an extension of the running game. But it's tough to get past the fact that Brady is taking a beating when he drops back to pass, because the lack of touches in the actual ground game isn't lending itself to the play action...
...and since these backs are all required for blitz pickup when needed, a defense with a good pass rush can eliminate the running backs' effectiveness in the passing game by forcing them to stay in the pocket to protect Brady.
That is how the Chiefs, Texans and Panthers managed to limit the backs' ability and availability in the passing game, by flooding the backfield with excellent pass rushers coupled with well-timed blitzes - and the only way to take that advantage back is by making their opponent respect the run which forces them into a heavy box and initializes the play action.
Brady is the master at the play action, and when the running game is going well, the play action causes a split-second pause in the pass rush, which allows the offensive linemen to anchor themselves against the bull rush and to set their edge against the speed rush, which in turn gives Brady that extra split second to survey the field to find a receiver that he otherwise wouldn't have had time to see.
It's a domino effect for sure, and one that breaks down if a team - any team - cannot or does not use their running game to it's full advantage, since everything in football begins and ends with the running game.
The Patriots are on a four-game winning streak - and while winning is all that matters and New England has won in previous seasons with a large void between their passing and ground games, in the here and now these Patriots are doing it with smoke and mirrors, but the magic act is exposed the closer they get to the end zone as the field shrinks and the opposing defenders can use boundaries to hem in the New England pass catchers.
Not only that, but also since the field shrinks the closer an offense gets to the end zone, defenders can get creative and exotic in their fronts to limit the running game as well. That said and true, it is in the red area where the Patriots need the aforementioned effect that the running game provides. This is not to say that New England doesn't run the ball in the red zone, just that if they want it to work so close to the end zone, they need to incorporate it more while driving down the field.
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