BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — For all of the uber-talented football players who’ve constructed New England’s great and shady dynasty, few if any have done something that caused architect Bill Belichick to break into a broad smile and jump with delight.
Yet that’s exactly what former Pitt star Dion Lewis did two weeks ago in the AFC championship, water-bugging around left for 18 yards on a third-and-9 play with 1:38 on the fourth-quarter clock, thus icing the comeback victory that inserted New England into Sunday’s Super Bowl opposite the Philadelphia Eagles.
When Lewis was finally tackled by Jacksonville’s Paul Posluszny, Belichick’s stony, evil-genius countenance cracked like an egg and real emotion poured out.