Column: Michael Lewis struggling

By Anthony Mallamaci
Collegian Reporter
October 18, 2006

Six games into the season, this city’s beloved football team has only two losses. At 4-2, the first-place Eagles have kept it close in every game, never dropping out of the lead by more than 10 points.

It has been a competitive season thus far, and everyone on the team, at one point or another, has contributed to the early success of the Philadelphia Eagles. That is, except for one player: strong safety Michael Lewis.

Formerly a hard-hitting Pro-Bowl safety, Michael Lewis could not even strike fear into the eyes of 12-year-old girls anymore. Highlights of his bone-crunching hits used to be seen all across the SportsCenter world. But now, you are hard-pressed to find even one decent play per game – not to mention that he has forgotten how to tackle.

Thankfully, he is in the last year of his contract and is playing like he has no desire to be re-signed, or sign with any other team, for that matter.

I understand that it took the whole team to make a 17-point lead to the Giants vanish, but the play of the day was Michael Lewis’ incapability to fall on a fumble to seal the game.

Don’t coaches always tell players to fall on a fumble; that possession is more important than trying to grab the ball, crazy hops and all, and run with it? Isn’t this guy a former second-round pick, who supposedly had a grasp of the game of football? Wasn’t he a Pro-Bowler only two years ago, in 2004?

Boneheaded plays by boneheaded players cost good teams wins. You could play the most perfect game in NFL history. Insert Lewis into that game, with the way he has been playing, and the chances become that much greater that you will lose.

I also understand Lewis isn’t the only reason Joe Horn single-handedly taught the Eagles young receiving corps how to catch, since Jeremiah Trotter was also burnt a few times, but Trotter isn’t a DB. His job is to focus on stopping the run, even when in coverage.

Michael Lewis plays in the defensive backfield. His job is to stop the pass. Lewis, who used to be a ball hawk and used to be involved on every tackle, now can’t seem to find the ball anywhere on the field, and is caught out of position numerous times every game.

But a solution is on the way in the form of Sean Considine. If you haven’t noticed, Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson has slowly been incorporating special teams stud Sean Considine into the nickel and dime packages.

Sometimes, Considine even comes in to spell Lewis for a few plays. Considine is just what the Eagles really need at strong safety. He has always had a knack for finding the ball, and he is just as hard a hitter as the aforementioned Lewis. He will sacrifice his body to make any play.

Even though some of his tackles aren’t “textbook” and his man-to-man coverage is below average, with great hands and an unbelievable motor, he should be a mainstay in this defense for years to come.

mallamacia1@lasalle.edu