Dion Lewis' breakout season with the Patriots has come to a premature end.
NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported Monday that Lewis suffered a torn ACL in Sunday's 27-10 win over the Redskins. Lewis needs surgery and has officially been placed on injured reserve.
The Boston Globe first reported the news.
Lewis suffered the non-contact injury while making a cut with 5:40 to play in the third quarter on Sunday. The Patriots had hoped that Lewis had only sprained his knee, but further tests concluded the injury was season-ending.
It's a crushing setback for Lewis, who had emerged as an dangerous dual threat out of the backfield in New England's offense this season. In seven games, Lewis ran for 234 yards on 49 carries (4.5 yards per attempt) and added 36 catches for 388 yards. He scored four total touchdowns.
How shifty was Lewis? According to ProFootballFocus.com, Lewis forced 43 missed tackles in just 85 touches this season. He averaged 3.3 yards after contact. Lewis was quite literally off the charts on PFF's "Elusive Rating", scoring a mark of 165.2 on a scale that generally tracks between 1-100. The site's previous high mark for a player was 106.9.
Lewis has represented another personnel master stroke by the Patriots, who took a player who had been bouncing around the league and turned him in a game-changing playmaker on the NFL's best offense. The only fortunate news for Lewis is that the injury occurred after he signed an extension with the team.
Now it's next man up. Brandon Bolden is expected to take on Lewis' role, sharing the Patriots backfield with LeGarrette Blount. Bolden had a touchdown reception in Sunday's win over Washington.