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Dion Lewis and his wild ride to the Super Bowl

HOUSTON - After two years without playing in a NFL game, Dion Lewis signed a future/reserve contract with the Patriots on Dec. 31, 2014. New England retained his rights, but the running back technically wasn't on the team.

HOUSTON - After two years without playing in a NFL game, Dion Lewis signed a future/reserve contract with the Patriots on Dec. 31, 2014. New England retained his rights, but the running back technically wasn't on the team.

The Patriots, per usual, were still playing in the playoffs at the time. So Lewis watched from afar, observant but not attached to the team. In fact, when New England reached the Super Bowl, the former Eagles running back said he had no rooting interest.

"I was watching a good football game," said Lewis, who was actually in Phoenix at the time of Super Bowl XLIX, although he wasn't at the stadium. "I watched it just like anybody else would."

Two years later, Lewis is very much a part of the Patriots as they head into Sunday's Super Bowl against the Falcons, their seventh appearance since 2001. Bill Belichick's teams over the last 17 years have featured an assortment of players with underdog paths to glory. The coach has a knack for taking castoffs and turning them into productive champions.

But Lewis' story is his own, and it has all the requisite peaks and valleys to qualify as a comeback tale worthy of telling.

Traded by the Eagles to the Browns. Broken leg. Released by Cleveland. Signed and cut by the Colts within a week. A season out of football. Picked up by the Patriots. A torn ACL. Another comeback. A historic performance in the playoffs. Lewis' journey has it all. All that's missing is a Hollywood ending.

"A lot can change in life. That's just how life is. A lot of ups and downs," Lewis said this week. "You just got to handle them the best way that you can."

Informed that the Patriots are 16-0 in games in which he has played over the last two seasons, Lewis said, "That's just a coincidence."

Told that number of games would seem to make it more than just a coincidence, Lewis noted that he also missed 16 games. It's actually 19, including the postseason, and the Patriots went 12-7 over that span.

New England couldn't have foreseen the possibility that Lewis would become a good luck charm when they first inked him to what is the least secure contract a NFL team can give a player. One Patriots coach, it should be noted, didn't even think much of him when he first saw him during 2015 spring workouts.

"I didn't like him," running backs coach Ivan Fears said. "He came in that spring, and he actually didn't really impress you. And I think we all had to take a step back and say, 'OK, he's working through an injury. Let's give him a chance.' And slowly, he began to grow on you."

While it had been almost two years since Lewis fractured his fibula in a preseason game, the injury was so severe that there was still lingering pain. He also had been rusty having not played in a game since the Eagles' season finale in 2012.

Lewis maintained his confidence despite the slow start. He said he just needed an opportunity.

"I don't really talk that much, so you might not know that I'm confident," Lewis said. "I feel like I'm one of the best players in the world. I never really get down on myself or don't think that I'm not good enough."

Selected by the Eagles in the fifth round of the 2011 draft, Lewis played sparingly on offense during his rookie season. He had former Pittsburgh teammate LeSean McCoy ahead of him, although he did return kicks.

In 2012, he was arrested just before training camp when he pulled a fire alarm at a hotel. While charges were eventually dropped, he seemed to fall out of favor with the Eagles. The following April, he was traded to the Browns for linebacker Emmanuel Acho.

"I just looked at it as a positive, a chance to go somewhere and get a fresh start and be able to compete to play," Lewis said. "When I was in Philly, I was behind [McCoy], so I wasn't playing that much."

Lewis had an admirer in Browns CEO Joe Banner, who was with the Eagles when he was drafted. But the running back missed all of the 2013 season after he broke his leg, and when Banner was forced out the next year, he was no longer there to protect Lewis, and Cleveland released him.

Indianapolis picked him up only to waive him days later. Lewis said he went back to his hometown of New York and kept training, hoping that he'd get another chance. It came on New Year's Eve from the Patriots.

After he survived that rocky spring, Lewis began to pop in the preseason. He got off to an explosive start in the regular season, and averaged 88.9 yards from scrimmage in the first seven games. But then yet again, fate stepped in. Lewis suffered a season-ending torn anterior cruciate ligament.

"Once I walked off the field from the injury, I knew I was going to be OK because I could walk," Lewis said. "When I broke my leg I couldn't even walk."

Lewis had signed a two-year contract extension before the injury, so he had some financial security. The Patriots, according to Fears, had no worries that Lewis wouldn't ever return.

"Nobody worked as hard as this son of a gun to get well," Fears said. "Everybody knew Dion was coming back."

Lewis was back on the field by Week 11. Over the Patriots' final seven games, he became more involved, particularly as a ball carrier. But his versatility remains his calling card. In New England's divisional playoff win over the Texans, Lewis became the first player in NFL postseason history to score touchdowns by rushing, receiving and a kickoff return.

"You expect to do the good things," Lewis said, "when you work so hard."