Marshawn Lynch was one of the quiet, yet colorful characters in the NFL. He never said much because he always wanted to show what he could do on the field. But as most football players, he had his antics at times. His actions often made me laugh and I know he was simply being himself. For the second time in the last three seasons, he’s decided to call it a career and retire.
During his playing time, he was one of the best running backs in the league. To some, he was the best. I can say he was the hardest running back to bring down because of his running style. As a defender, you had to get your mind right when it came to prepare to stop him because it was going to be a battle. He was such a strong runner who always found a way to stay on his feet even when it looked like he was going to fall. Although he was a power back, he could cut on a dime and make you miss in the open field. I never let the power game fool me because he was a lot quicker than many people gave him credit for. There were so many elements to his game. You never knew which way he was going to go. Marshawn had a unique running style. He played with a great base, he was wide with his feet, he always ran leveled and he just wasn’t a power back or a speed back, it’s safe to say he had all the attributes of a power and speed guy incorporated into one. He’s had some very memorable runs in his career. I could easily talk about the epic run in the playoffs against New Orleans when he pretty much took the entire Saints defense into the endzone with him. Instead, I’ll talk about a run that took place during the 2014 season. It was a Sunday night in Arizona. Russell Wilson handed the ball off to him, he begins to run left, then sees a lane open and shifts himself right. When it looked like Patrick Peterson was going to bring him down, Marshawn powered himself through and through one of the best stiff arms I had seen in a while. Through all the traffic, he found a way to stay in bounds and scored on a 79-yard touchdown run.
The man known as “Beastmode” to football fans was drafted by the Buffalo Bills and spent the first three years of his career there. In 2010, he was traded to the Seattle Seahawks where he had some of the best years of his career. He was a big part in Seattle clinching the top record in the NFC in 2013 along with the Seahawks’ first Super Bowl title in franchise history. He retired at the end of the 2015 season than two years later, he came back and played with his hometown Oakland Raiders. It was fun to cover him and watch him play.
