Carroll: ‘I don’t have any hesitation’ in how Seahawks use Marshawn Lynch against 49ers
Marshawn Lynch sat on the counter of the Seahawks’ equipment room. He chopped it up there for a while with Cliff Avril, the retired Seahawks defensive end and Lynch’s old Super Bowl teammate.
Lynch was dangling gold cleats by his side.
He sure looked at home in Seattle’s locker room Friday.
His coach is doing all he can to make Lynch feel that way.
Pete Carroll says he has no hesitation using Lynch as he always has Sunday night in the 33-year-old running back’s first game in nearly four full years for the Seahawks, the NFC West title match against San Francisco at CenturyLink Field
“I don’t have any hesitation, at all, with what we are doing,” Carroll said Friday when asked about Lynch’s and fellow returning running back Robert Turbin’s workload for Sunday’s game six days after they signed back with Seattle.
“We didn’t teach them the whole notebook. We taught them the game plan. So that’s somewhat less,” Carroll said. “They handled everything. You’ll see the plan on how we are going to play these guys.”
Quarterback Russell Wilson said handing the ball in practices this week to Lynch and Turbin, who also will be playing his first NFL game in 14 months, felt like old times.
“They look ready,” Wilson said. “They look ready to go the whole game.”
Carroll said he was somewhat wowed by how quickly his two new-old backs fit right back into Seattle’s offense.
Of course, that’s a large reason why the Seahawks signed Lynch and Turbin instead of, say, C.J. Anderson and Alfred Blue. Those are two other veteran free agents Carroll and general manager John Schneider tried out after the Seahawks lost top rushers Chris Carson, Rashaad Penny and C.J. Prosise to season-ending injuries this month.
“It’s hard to imagine it could be so seamless in their learning, and all. But they are veteran guys and they get it,” Carroll said of Lynch and Turbin. “We feel them. Felt them in practice. And looking forward to those guys participating in this game.
“They fit right in. You couldn’t tell any different that they do.”
Rookie Travis Homer is still in line to make his first career start against the 49ers. He’s been in the entire offense since the Seahawks drafted him in the sixth round out of Miami and then had him for minicamps in May. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer can do more with Homer across the breadth of all schemes and formations in the event this week’s game plan needs to change during the game, as is often the case when defenses show new looks or are having particular success against the plan.
Asked how Lynch and Turbin joining the offense this late in the season affects his play calling with the new backs in there, Schottenheimer said: “It definitely makes you ponder a little bit more about certain things. Hey, can we do this? Can we do that?
“Some of it is trial and error.”
Yet if the game remains tight and the NFC West, a home playoff game and perhaps a first-round bye is on the line deep into Sunday night, it’s hard to imagine it won’t be Lynch back in his old role of lining up behind Wilson as the Seahawks’ soul in the biggest moments of the biggest game.
Carroll has gotten a kick out of this week, and the excitement Lynch’s return has created.
That was also by the coach’s design.
“There’s no question, it’s undeniable, there’s an energy about and a juice about him being back here,” Carroll said. “He’s been such an extraordinary player and character over the years, for this opportunity at this time, to come back with all that is going on—Christmas, and everything, New Year’s right around the corner—it’s just fitting that we were able to figure it out.
“I’m thrilled by the way he has brought it, and studied and learned, to fit in. It’s only been addition, him coming in. I’m fired up for it.
“Every once in a while, I have to tell you, I chuckle at, ‘There he is. He’s back with us.’ It’s exciting. And I like it, too, just like the fans do.”
So exactly how much of a workload is Lynch going to get in game one?
Carroll gave a big smile to that.
“Well, you are going to have to wait and find out,” he said.
This story was originally published December 27, 2019 at 3:04 PM.
