Thanks for the memories, Jamal

Thanks to a concussion, the best offensive player in the short history of the New Browns has completed his sterling NFL career. Jamal Lewis, who ends his career 21st on the NFL's all-time rushing list, announced several weeks ago that he would hang up his cleats after this season, and he is now done for the season. He rushed for 10,607 yards in his career, the last 2,806 of which were for the Browns.

Lewis' best moment as a pro, as we all must remember, came in a Ravens uniform, in a game against the Browns. On September 14, 2003, Lewis ran wild over the Browns defense, going for an NFL-record 295 yards on 30 carries, including touchdown runs of 82 and 63 yards. He was busting long runs left and right, and the Browns were helpless to stop him. Lewis rushed for 2,066 yards that year, the second-best rushing season in NFL history, behind Eric Dickerson's 2,105 in 1984.

His career appeared to be slowing down when he came to the Browns in 2007, but he rattled off two straight 1,000-yard seasons in the brown and orange. His 1,304-yard total in 2007 was by far the best rushing season in the history of the New Browns, and the best total by any Brown in my lifetime. In fact, the great Jim Brown is the only one to top that total in a Browns uniform. Lewis will be joining Brown in Canton in a few years. I'm glad to have seen him on our team in the twilight years of his career, and wish him the best of luck in his post-career endeavors.

Browns sell out, Lewis pops off

So it seems the Browns sold out Monday night's game against the Ravens just in time to avoid a blackout. I guess enough people are eager to see Brady Quinn's triumphant return (OK, his return, anyway) to the starter's job. I don't have high hopes for him or the team in general, but as it turns out, I've got Tuesday off from work, so I'll stay up and watch it. That doesn't mean I'm happy about how late it will start, but I keep harping on that, and even I'm tired of hearing me say it.

In other Browns-related news, Jamal Lewis popped off yesterday about how hard Coach Mangini is working the team. Money quote: "You can work hard as you want. You can work all day, seven days a week all the way up to Sunday in practice. But at the same time, if you're going to work like that, then maybe on Sunday you're probably not going to get what you want out of your players."

Lewis went on and on like that. Lewis is frustrated, as well he should be. He's having the worst season of his 10-year career as an individual, and this is no doubt the worst team he's ever played on. I don't think he should be running his mouth to reporters instead of talking to his coach, but since he's planning to retire after this season anyway, he really has nothing to lose. I'd bet there are other players on the team who feel the same way, and maybe they're right. I liked the Mangini hire when they made it, but now I'm thinking he was the wrong guy at the wrong time.

Pathetic. Just pathetic.

Let me start off by saying I didn't watch the Browns' 30-6 loss to the Bears yesterday. It wasn't some sort of protest or conscientious objection, though if these Browns weren't so terrible, I might have chosen to stay home and watch. But my wife wanted to go to a Chinese auction that was being drawn at 2 p.m. at Windham High School, and that sounded like more fun to me than watching the Browns get the crap beaten out of them yet again. And it was! I didn't win anything, but my wife won a Windham football jersey (No. 8; and I wore it the rest of the day, just for the heck of it), a scrapbook set and a lunchbox set.

As the auction wore on, I was checking in from time to time on the Browns, who were predictably pathetic. They were down 16-0 at the half, by which time Derek Anderson was 2-for-9 for 13 yards with an interception and a lost fumble. He had also been sacked once for an 11-yard loss. Eric Mangini must be a very pig-headed man for not going with Brady Quinn to start the second half. As bad as Quinn was at the start of the year, Anderson has played about as badly as I've ever seen an NFL quarterback play, and I'd frankly rather see Brett Ratliff out there right now. The only thing Anderson has proven this year is that he's got no business running an NFL offense.

Anyway, Mangini stuck with Anderson, who rewarded him with a 4-for-8 passing performance in the second half, for 63 yards, and scored a rushing touchdown that was set up by a shanked punt and four Jamal Lewis rushes. Anderson never threw the ball on that one touchdown drive, which started at the Chicago 30.

Lewis announced after the game that this would be his last season, and if I were one of his teammates, I'd be tempted to join him. It can't be fun to play on a team like this.

Oh, yeah

In all the hubbub over the Cavs' blockbuster trade, the Browns' recent signing of Jamal Lewis has kind of gotten lost. But this is pretty darn big. Lewis ran for 1,304 yards last year. The last Brown to do that? Jim Brown.

Lewis signed a three-year deal, at the conclusion of which he'll be 32. He had some injury problems his last few years in Baltimore, but he's obviously healthy now, and lots of great running backs have still been pretty darned good at 32. Walter Payton rushed for 1,333 yards at age 32; Ottis Anderson, 1,023; Emmitt Smith, 1,021; Jerome Bettis, 931; Corey Dillon, 812. Franco Harris had injury problems at age 32, but rushed for 1,007 at age 33. John Riggins was also hurt at 32, but had back-to-back 1,200-plus seasons at 34 and 35.

It should be noted, however, that many great running backs were done or nearly done by 32. Brown retired at 29, and Barry Sanders quit at 31. Both of them were still at the top of their game, however, so who knows how they'd have done had they stayed with it. But at age 32, Curtis Martin went for 735 in his last season; Eric Dickerson, 729 in his next-to-last season (going for 91 the next year); Marshall Faulk, 292 in his last season; Marcus Allen, 301 (though he played until he was 37 and had an 890-yard season at 35); Thurman Thomas, 381 (he would play just 14 more games in two seasons after that).

Regardless, Lewis figures to be a Pro Bowl-caliber running back at least another year or two. If the Browns can get Derek Anderson under contract (and they're reportedly close), they'll have all the key pieces back from the offense that scored 25 points a game last year.

Oh, Romeo

The Browns are negotiating with Romeo Crennel on a two-year contract extension, which would mean that he, Eric Wedge and Mike Brown will have all gotten two-year extensions in rapid succession. The extension is reportedly going to be worth about $4 million a year, which is just further proof that I took the wrong career path.

Crennel got the Brownies turned around this year, his third with the club. They missed the playoffs, but as I covered a few days ago, they deserved to get in more than the Titans did. But let's not forget that Romeo's three-year record is still 20-28. I'm glad he's here, and I look forward to seeing how we do next year with him calling the shots, but I don't think he's the second coming of Paul Brown.

Next year will probably depend more on signing Derek Anderson and Jamal Lewis than it will on anything the coaching staff might do. Don't get me wrong — the much-improved offensive line has a lot to do with it too. And Brady Quinn just might be the budding superstar many people think he might be. But an offense needs playmakers, and these guys showed in '07 that they're playmakers.