Tag: Dion Lewis

Former Jaguars LB Myles Jack retires from NFL after 7 seasons

Myles Jack, who spent six of his seven NFL seasons with the Jaguars, reportedly informed the Eagles that he plans to retire.

Former Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Myles Jack is calling it a career and informed the Philadelphia Eagles that he plans to retire, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

Jack, 27, spent the majority of his career with the Jaguars after they picked him with the No. 36 overall pick in the second round of the 2016 NFL draft. In six seasons with Jacksonville, he appeared in 103 games and made 95 starts. Jack recorded 513 tackles with the Jaguars — seventh most in franchise history — along with three interceptions, two forced fumbles, 6.5 sacks, and four fumble recoveries.

His most notable moment with the Jaguars came during the AFC Championship in January 2018 when he chased down the New England Patriots’ Dion Lewis and forced a fumble, which he recovered himself. While the play was blown dead by officials, replays later showed that Jack wasn’t touched down by a New England player and should’ve been allowed to return the fumble for a likely touchdown.

Jack signed a four-year contract extension with the Jaguars just prior to the 2019 season, but was released by the team in March 2022. He played one season with the Pittsburgh Steelers and joined the Eagles earlier this month.

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33 days till Patriots season opener: Every player to wear No. 33 for New England

Here’s a list of every Patriots player to wear the No. 33 jersey number

The New England Patriots are 33 days away from kick-starting their regular season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles. So we’re continuing our countdown series by listing every Patriots player that has ever worn the No. 33 jersey.

There have been a slew of talented players that have worn the No. 33 for the Patriots, including Dion Lewis, Leon Washington, Sam Gash, Tony Collins and Reggie Rucker.

Yet, when it comes to the Patriots, the most notable player to every wear that number throughout franchise history is former legendary running back Kevin Faulk. After being drafted out of LSU with a second-round pick, Faulk spent all 13 seasons of his NFL career playing in New England.

He left an indelible mark on the organization and its fan base with his contributions. That effort has earned him three Super Bowl titles, a New England Patriots Hall of Fame induction and being named to the All-Dynasty Team.

Let’s take a look at every player that has ever worn the No. 33 for the Patriots (via Pro Football Reference).

Former Titans RB Dion Lewis lands assistant coach gig

Former Titans RB Dion Lewis is taking an assistant coaching gig at the University of Albany.

Former Tennessee Titans running back Dion Lewis decided to hang up his cleats after the 2020 campaign and is now dipping his toe in the coaching pool after a few years away from the game.

According to Mark Singelais of the Albany Times Union, Lewis is taking an assistant coach job with the University of Albany, where he will work with running backs under running backs coach Jordan Orlovsky.

“It’s great to be back in the Capital Region,” he said. “I’m extremely grateful to join the Great Dane family. I’d like to extend my thanks to Coach Gattuso, the entire football staff, and (athletic director) Mark Benson for welcoming me. I’m excited to get to work and hit the ground running with this group.”

Lewis spent two years with the Titans before being released. He then latched on with the New York Giants, where he played the final year of his career.

Prior to his stints in Tennessee and New York, Lewis spent two years with the Philadelphia Eagles and three with the New England Patriots. Lewis won a Super Bowl ring with the latter.

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Ex-Giant Dion Lewis named assistant coach at UAlbany

Retired New York Giants running back Dion Lewis has been named an assistant coach at the University of Albany.

Retired members of the New York Giants have been landing coaching jobs left and right lately, which is a trend that continued late last week.

On Friday, the University of Albany announced that former Giants running back Dion Lewis has been hired as an assistant coach.

“It’s great to be back in the Capital Region,” Lewis said, via the Albany Times Union. “I’m extremely grateful to join the Great Dane family. I’d like to extend my thanks to Coach Gattuso, the entire football staff, and (athletic director) Mark Benson for welcoming me. I’m excited to get to work and hit the ground running with this group.”

Lewis was originally a fifth-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2011 NFL draft. After two seasons with the Eagles, he bounced around the league, making stints with the Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots, and Tennessee Titans before closing out his career with the Giants in 2020.

Lewis picked up a Super Bowl ring during his time with the Pats.

In 102 career games (27 starts), Lewis rushed for 2,425 yards and 13 touchdowns, adding 191 receptions for 1,408 yards and eight touchdowns out of the backfield. He was also a solid kick returner, gaining an additional 1,845 yards and one touchdown.

With UAlbany, Lewis will assist running backs coach Jordan Orlovsky.

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Former Giants RB Dion Lewis retires from NFL

Former New York Giants running back Dion Lewis is retiring from the NFL.

NFL veteran running back Dion Lewis, who played last season with the New York Giants, is retiring from the game after 10 seasons.

Lewis, 30, was a forth-round pick (149 overall) out of Pitt by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2011 NFL draft. The Albany native played two years in Philly and was traded to the Cleveland Browns for linebacker Emmanuel Acho in 2013.

Lewis missed the 2013 season with a fractured fibula and was cut by the Browns the next summer. He was then signed by the Indianapolis Colts but was released the next week.

Lewis resurfaced in New England in 2015 and had three very productive seasons there, winning a Super Bowl. In 2017, Lewis left New England for Tennessee where he lasted two seasons. He moved on to the Giants in 2020 and played in all 16 games for Big Blue.

Lewis’ best season was 2017 when he racked up 896 yards rushing for the Patriots and ran back a kick 103 yards for a touchdown.

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Report: Former Titans RB Dion Lewis is retiring

Lewis spent two seasons with the Titans before getting released in 2020.

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Former Tennessee Titans running back Dion Lewis is set to call it a career.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Lewis will retire with the 2021 season less than one month away, and despite the fact that he has drawn interest from teams around the NFL recently.

Lewis is hanging up his cleats after eight seasons in the NFL (he also missed two seasons due to injury), spending time with the Philadelphia Eagles, New England Patriots, Titans, and New York Giants.

Originally a fifth-round pick of the Eagles in 2011, Lewis really made a name for himself with the Patriots, where he also won a Super Bowl.

The best season of his career came in New England in 2017, when he tallied over 1,000 yards, including a career-high 896 rushing. He also added nine touchdowns.

The Titans signed Lewis to a four-year, $19.8 million contract the following offseason, but the deal didn’t work out for Tennessee, and it’s safe to say fans were frustrated by it.

Lewis’ best season in Nashville came in his first, when he totaled 917 yards (517 rushing) and two scores. However, thanks to the emergence of Derrick Henry, and lackluster play from Lewis overall, the veteran became an afterthought in 2019, leading to his getting cut in 2020.

Lewis spent the last season of his career with the Giants, finishing with 242 total yards (115 rushing).

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Rick Gosselin ranks Giants’ special teams in bottom half of NFL

Rick Gosselin of Sports Illustrated has the New York Giants’ special teams ranked in the bottom half of the NFL.

The New York Giants began the 2020 season with high hopes for their special teams. They brought back Thomas McGaughey, one of the NFL’s top coordinators to work under new head coach Joe Judge, who had masterfully guided the New England Patriots’ special teams for the better part of eight seasons.

Judge was so good at his job, he became only the second man in NFL history (Frank Gansz of Kansas City is the other) to make the jump from special teams coordinator to head coach.

The Giants headed into the season with new special teams captains in starting safety/returner Jabrill Peppers and Nate Ebner, a special teams ace who played under Judge in Foxborough. They replaced two Pro Bowlers in long snapper Zak DeOssie (retired) and Michael Thomas, who was not re-signed.

The first several weeks of the season went swimmingly for the special teams. Then, the breakdowns began. A rare blocked punt in the end zone was a sign. Then, missed tackles leading to large returns on the coverage teams became common.

In a recent ranking by Sports Illustrated’s Rick Gosselin, the Giants ranked 19th in the NFL in special teams. Considering the high hopes the Giants came into the season with, this is a major disappointment.

Looking at the statistics, the Giants, working with a new long snapper in Casey Kreiter, looked okay. Punter Riley Dixon was fine statistically. He averaged 44.8 yards per punt on 65 attempts and was tied for third in the NFL with 28 punts inside the 20.

Kicker Graham Gano, signed in August to replace former Pro Bowler Aldrick Rosas, played in all 16 games despite testing positive for COVID-19. Gano made 31 of 32 field goal attempts, his only miss from over 50 yards. His .9687 percentage is the second highest in Giants history. Gano also set franchise records for consecutive field goals (30) and field goals from over 50 yards in a season (five).

The only drawback was his kickoffs. Gano had a touchback rate of just 41.1 percent, and with the coverage teams — besieged by injuries — inconsistent, gave teams more palatable field position.

On the return end, Dion Lewis averaged 22.4 yards per return on 24 kickoffs. But the Giants were only able to return 20 punts in 2020. He averaged a respectable 12.5 YPA on the season but the return units were ineffective overall.

There is no way some of these numbers sit well with Judge. It’s another area the Giants will need to improve upon next season.

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Giants defeat Cowboys: Winners, losers and those in between

The New York Giants defeated the Dallas Cowboys, 23,19, in Week 17. Here are our winners and losers from the game.

The New York Giants ended their eight-game skid against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 17 and kept their playoff hopes alive in the process.

The 23-19 victory was anything but clean, but it doesn’t really matter how you get the win so long as you do. That’s exactly what Joe Judge & Co. did, and it’s exactly what they desperately needed to do.

Here’s a look at our winners and losers (and those in between) from Sunday’s game.

Giants vs. Browns: Statistics, numbers and broken records

The New York Giants fell to the Cleveland Browns in Week 15 and here’s a look at some of the statistics and numbers.

The New York Giants took a beating on Sunday night, falling to the Cleveland Browns, 20-6, in a game that wasn’t even as competitive as the lopsided score would have you believe.

Without offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, quarterback Daniel Jones and cornerbacks James Bradberry and Darnay Holmes, the Giants were outmatched and outclassed for the second straight week. Some would also argue they were outcoached.

Here’s a look at all the noteworthy stats to come from the Week 15 loss:

  • With the loss, the Giants secured a losing record for the fourth consecutive season.
  • The Giants have finished sub-.500 in seven of the last eight seasons.
  • New York did not score a touchdown for the third time this season.
  • The Giants have scored a combined 13 points over their past two games, which is the lowest total over a two-game stretch since September of 2018. It’s their lowest total in back-to-back home games since 1976.
  • With the loss, Colt McCoy’s career record falls to 8-22.
  • Julian Love made his first career start at cornerback.
  • Dion Lewis’ 48-yard kickoff return to start the game was his longest since 2017 and the Giants’ longest since November of 2019.
  • Graham Gano has now connected on 27 straight field goal attempts, one shy of his career high and two shy of tying the Giants’ all-time record.
  • Joe Webb appeared in a game for the first time since 2018. In his Giants debut, he took four special teams snaps.
  • Joe Judge threw his first challenge flag of the season late in the fourth quarter on an onside kick. He lost.
  • The prime time matchup was the Giants’ first on Sunday night since September 16, 2018.

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Giants fall to Browns: Winners, losers and those in between

Here are the winners, losers and those in between from the New York Giants’ Week 15 loss to the Cleveland Browns.

The New York Giants’ playoff chances took another hit this week as they dropped their second straight game falling to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday Night Football.

With tonight’s loss, the Giants and Cowboys are now both 5-9 and tied for second place in the NFC East. However, Dallas technically holds the tie breaker, which would put New York in third place. Luckily, the Washington Football Team also lost on Sunday, so the Giants and Cowboys remain just a game behind them in the division with two weeks left to play.

Quarterback Colt McCoy started his second game of the season in place of the injured Daniel Jones (hamstring, sprained ankle), but the offense was only able to scratch across three total points.

Head coach Joe Judge was aggressive in the red zone going for it on fourth-and-goal two separate times, but the Giants were unsuccessful on both chances. This included a questionable fake field goal call, where punter Riley Dixon attempted to throw into triple coverage – to center Nick Gates, no less.

The Giants sorely missed top cornerback James Bradberry (Reserve/COVID-19 list) as they were forced to play in a soft zone coverage for much of the night, while getting no pressure on the quarterback. This saw Baker Mayfield and the Browns carve up their pass defense at will.

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