Seahawks teammates in awe of Marshawn Lynch on day one; season’s vibe flips — way up
“Merry New Year...it’s a great feeling to be back.”
That was Marshawn Lynch’s 8 seconds with the media in his Seahawks return on a energized Christmas Eve at team headquarters.
Oh, what a difference a Marshawn Lynch makes.
Two days earlier, the Seahawks’ season was at a crossroads. The vibe inside the locker room was full of legitimate concern.
Concern over getting smashed at home by five-win Arizona. Over losing the inside track to home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. And losing Chris Carson, Rashaad Penny and C.J. Prosise, their top three running backs, to season-ending injuries.
Now, with Lynch back out of retirement to play for the Seahawks in their mammoth, NFC West title game Sunday night against San Francisco?
The longest-tenured Seahawk says it’s ideal.
“Yeah, man. He’s back in the building. And it feels good,” linebacker K.J. Wright said Tuesday on Lynch’s first full day of practice for Seattle in almost four full years.
“When I heard the news, I was like: ‘Perfect.’
“He’s just the ultimate teammate. Cool dude. Just ballin’.
“So, I’m glad to have him back.”
Lynch’s new locker in his old locker room is next to All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner’s. Lynch is the only offensive player who has a spot on that side of the room
“Hey, only one person can pull that off,” Wright said. “And that’s number 24.
Wright is one of only five Seahawks who have played with Lynch. Lynch’s last season with the Seahawks was his injury-filled one of 2015, before the 33-year-old retired the first time from the NFL.
The others to play with him are Wagner, wide receiver Tyler Lockett, tight end Luke Willson and quarterback Russell Wilson. Wilson stood next to Lynch at the start of practice as Wilson threw passes to rookie DK Metcalf and Lynch caught return passes from backup QB Geno Smith.
So 48 Seahawks have no idea what it’s like to play with Lynch.
That means 48 Seahawks were walking around in awe of an icon and national phenomenon Tuesday.
“It’s crazy, because these guys have never played with him,” Wright said. “Everybody is just kind of, like, a little starstruck. They are like, ‘Did we really get Marshawn?...How is he?’
“I’m like, ‘He cool. You will like him.’ ...
“A great teammate.”
True to his media persona (still), Lynch gave a smile and hello, one handshake then one hug to two reporters he recognized in the locker room Tuesday from his first Seahawks go-round. Then he retreated to the training room for the rest of media availability, then onto the practice field.
Then, after practice, Lynch went Yuletide, Eddie Murphy/Trading Places with “Merry New Year.”
After “I’m just here so I don’t get fined” at the Super Bowl in Phoenix in 2015, it was just about, as Wright said, “perfect.”
Monday night, Lynch posted a video to the YouTube page for his Beast Mode Productions.
“At my age, this is a great opportunity to be able to come in and be able to help when needed, get in and do my little thing and get out, hopefully be able to help them go ahead and get to the Super Bowl that they should be playing for,” Lynch said.
That was one of the relatively few passages of the video suitable for directly quoting in a family newspaper.
“I’m going to maximize my opportunity to the fullest,” Lynch said.
Wagner said off adding Lynch for the most important games of the season, Sunday’s then next month’s playoffs: “It’s huge.”
And it’s exactly by Pete Carroll’s design.
Who knows what shape Lynch is in after not playing in 14 months? The coach said Tuesday Lynch “looks great. His weight is down.” Lynch reportedly worked out 16 times with his Bay Area mixed-martial arts trainer in the eight days before he passed his physical and signed his contract for the rest of the season Monday night, getting blows from heavy bags to his torso to simulate tackling.
But the pounding a running back takes in any NFL game is like no other.
Thing is, this is a calculated move by Carroll and general manager John Schneider, beyond whatever yards Lynch may (or may not) be able to give Seattle in this return.
This bold stroke has already changed the Seahawks’ mood and direction after all they lost in Sunday’s 27-13 loss to Arizona. It tells the locker room they will go get what they need. It brings back an uber-popular personality when morale could use a boost.
“I‘m not going to try to kid you that I didn’t understand there would be juice,” from signing Lynch, Carroll said.
What they get from Lynch in yards and carries may be a bonus.
“He’s an extraordinary person. We’ve just been through so much and we know him as well as I think you can know a guy, what he brings and what he offers and all,” Carroll said. “He brings a lot to the table. He’s as physical a player as I’ve ever been around. As great of competitor I’ve ever been around. When you get to add somebody like that to your team, it only helps and enhances the mentality that we already cherish anyway.
“We’ll find out how he can play and how he does. It’s been a little while off. He looks great in the first couple looks at him in as far as his conditioning and all that. His weight is down. He’s in a really good spot for coming and going for it. He was very serious about getting ready for this opportunity. At the stroke of misfortune on some regards really opens the door, which it happens at times.
“He’s ready to take the full opportunity at hand and see what he can do to help us.”
Carroll said: “There was a lot of give and give in this relationship, from our end of it and his end of it,” Carroll said of the bond that started in the middle of the 2010 season.
That’s when Carroll traded with Buffalo to acquire the punishing running back who personifies the culture the coach wants in his team.
“We’ve gone through A LOT.”
Including what Lynch is already marketing as “unfinished business.”
Carroll decided to change the call from a run to a pass at the 1-yard line in the final seconds of Super Bowl 49. Lynch’s run on the previous play had gotten the Seahawks to the 1. Seattle and Lynch were that close to a second consecutive Super Bowl title.
Carroll saw the New England Patriots sending onto the field a “heavy” package of run-stopping linemen. So he instructed offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell to call a pass play as a counter. Wilson threw his infamous interception to New England’s Malcolm Butler, the defensive back who cut fourth receiver Ricardo Lockette off his slant route at the goal line.
The video stands as Lynch’s reaction to coming back to Seattle, and to his “unfinished business” of getting another Super Bowl title with the Seahawks.
He said in Monday’s video when he’s traveled the world strangers come up to him talking out of the blue. He says he doesn’t understand what they say to him, “but translated, it is ‘You should have two Super Bowl rings.’”
Asked why he wanted to return to Seattle, Lynch was blunt.
“We’ve got history there,” he said. “We’ve got unfinished business.”
Lynch has already marketed that on T-shirts and gear from his online Beast Mode apparel store.
Carroll said he felt that vibe from Lynch in talking to him Monday, before he signed the contract that has turned around the football mood across Seattle, inside and outside the Seahawks’ locker room.
“He’s going to go for it,” Carroll said. “He won’t hold back. He won’t hold back one bit...
“He has grown. It comes across when you visit with him.”
The contract is only for Sunday night’s division-title game and then the upcoming playoffs.
Does the coach sense Lynch wants to play more than that for the Seahawks this second time around?
“I don’t know. Do you know what Marshawn wants?” Carroll said, his voice rising.
““I’ve been around him more than anybody. And I have no clue.”
This story was originally published December 24, 2019 at 3:45 PM.
