Effusive FieldGulls Marshawn Lynch story today 1/2

[SantaClaraHawk]

https://www.fieldgulls.com/2020/1/2/210 ... acks-homer

Not only was the whole article overly praising, but it's also wrong.

"But Marshawn Lynch’s return to Seattle is a thing unlike any we have seen in the National Football league. ... He’s the only player to come out of retirement twice in the history of the NFL."

HE DIDN'T RETIRE FROM OAKLAND. It's been explained time and again that the only reason the Hawks were able to get him after the deadline to bring back retired players (like Gronk) was because he didn't retire. His contract expired.

"Lynch also has come back with a completely unexpected level of professionalism, ease, fitness, and ambition for a playoff run - the thing for which he was exclusively brought back."

He was brought back b/c he's familiar w/the team and was serviceable with Oakland. He was brought back because there was no better option.

Fitness? Dude looked like a guy who quit playing in October. Of 2018.

Professionalism? Rather than be ready with his helmet, he sits there in a ski hat preoccupied with the Jumbotron.

"In a very tangible way, Marshawn Lynch saved this season. Sure, the Hawks lost the only game he played. The most likely scenario is that they go 1-2 with him on the 2019 roster. "

Again, if he'd had his helmet ON, maybe there wouldn't have been a delay of game. I'm not saying it is all on Marshawn, but his not doing something every 9-yo in Pop Warner knows contributed to blowing the game.

He hopefully won't do that again. But he wasn't brought here specifically so we could force-feed the ball at the 1 for some sort of storybook ending. That's irrelevant now. It's five years later. He's here as an RB2 for Homer. That's it.

If we DO go 1-2, that'd be more on other people and players. Diggs and Brown's return. Pete managing his timeouts. Russ rushing more.

Again, I'm not saying he was a bad option considering what we had. But hanging all our hopes on this guy, as this article seems to, flies in the face of how things actually are.

 

[Jerhawk]

Yeah, the author may be a bit too high on Lynch's return.

But man, I couldn't help but get pumped whenever he got the ball. And I got emotional when he scored. It's not all bad

 

[chris98251]

https://www.fieldgulls.com/2020/1/2/21045290/marshawn-lynch-seattle-seahawks-return-retirement-twice-playoffs-2019-beast-run-running-backs-homer

Not only was the whole article overly praising, but it's also wrong.

"But Marshawn Lynch’s return to Seattle is a thing unlike any we have seen in the National Football league. ... He’s the only player to come out of retirement twice in the history of the NFL."

HE DIDN'T RETIRE FROM OAKLAND. It's been explained time and again that the only reason the Hawks were able to get him after the deadline to bring back retired players (like Gronk) was because he didn't retire. His contract expired.

"Lynch also has come back with a completely unexpected level of professionalism, ease, fitness, and ambition for a playoff run - the thing for which he was exclusively brought back."

He was brought back b/c he's familiar w/the team and was serviceable with Oakland. He was brought back because there was no better option.

Fitness? Dude looked like a guy who quit playing in October. Of 2018.

Professionalism? Rather than be ready with his helmet, he sits there in a ski hat preoccupied with the Jumbotron.

"In a very tangible way, Marshawn Lynch saved this season. Sure, the Hawks lost the only game he played. The most likely scenario is that they go 1-2 with him on the 2019 roster. "

Again, if he'd had his helmet ON, maybe there wouldn't have been a delay of game. I'm not saying it is all on Marshawn, but his not doing something every 9-yo in Pop Warner knows contributed to blowing the game.

He hopefully won't do that again. But he wasn't brought here specifically so we could force-feed the ball at the 1 for some sort of storybook ending. That's irrelevant now. It's five years later. He's here as an RB2 for Homer. That's it.

If we DO go 1-2, that'd be more on other people and players. Diggs and Brown's return. Pete managing his timeouts. Russ rushing more.

Again, I'm not saying he was a bad option considering what we had. But hanging all our hopes on this guy, as this article seems to, flies in the face of how things actually are.

So you dislike him so much you posted this same drivel in two threads, got it !

 

[SantaClaraHawk]

Hey Chris. If you've noticed, I was real high on Marshawn coming back for the emotional boost.

But clearly by the end, that became all that it was about. You may not like the reminder about the helmet, but it is not "drivel" just b/c it got reported on the major sports radio in SF. They were paid to be at that game. It happened. Someone here who went to the game freaking saw some equipment guy chasing him around. Pete alluded to it. Logically, that contributed to the delay of game.

Letting storybook endings happen is one thing. Forcing them is another. We did not have success with forcing it. It's time for that narrative to end, and for him to be prepared and for the purposes of the Philly game at least just another player. Same as everyone else is who played through 2019.

If that's not the "drivel" you mean, then what is?

 

[JGreen79]

You're really hung up on the helmet thing... From the 3:36 mark it was literally the only situation he was ever going to get back in the game.

Marshawn brings more to the team than his performance on the field. He elevates the energy in the locker room more than anything. Frankly without that energy, week 17 would have been a repeat of the 2017 Rams game imo.

 

[chris98251]

Hey Chris. If you've noticed, I was real high on Marshawn coming back for the emotional boost.

But clearly by the end, that became all that it was about. You may not like the reminder about the helmet, but it is not "drivel" just b/c it got reported on the major sports radio in SF. They were paid to be at that game. It happened. Someone here who went to the game freaking saw some equipment guy chasing him around. Pete alluded to it. Logically, that contributed to the delay of game.

Letting storybook endings happen is one thing. Forcing them is another. We did not have success with forcing it. It's time for that narrative to end, and for him to be prepared and for the purposes of the Philly game at least just another player. Same as everyone else is who played through 2019.

If that's not the "drivel" you mean, then what is?

Fant was down and the Officials didn't see or didn't care, that was part of it, they had a no back set on the field, they have a dozen people on the sidelines that should have been involved in getting the play and personnel onto the field, Lynch may have been looking at the Jumbo Tron sure, but he also was not alerted till the last minute and like everything else it was chaos.

This is all on Pete, the RB coach, and Schotty for not being on top of stuff and lackadaisical in their addressing the situation. Sure Lynch may not have had his helmet, many players put them on the blowers and dryers when they are on the sidelines. But the Chaos and confusion was the contributor.

 

[SantaClaraHawk]

I'm not even disagreeing here. Of course the coaching and the general chaos contributed to the DOG. It still doesn't mean Marshawn didn't.

Regardless, at this point I think the Hawks need to quit trying to make him 2014 or 2015 Marshawn. He's not that. He's a backup back for Homer, and he was brought back after all this time because we were dry of better options.

If he gets some yards, great. But I don't think he needs to be focused on any more than any other RB at this point.

 

[kf3339]

I'm not even disagreeing here. Of course the coaching and the general chaos contributed to the DOG. It still doesn't mean Marshawn didn't.

Regardless, at this point I think the Hawks need to quit trying to make him 2014 or 2015 Marshawn. He's not that. He's a backup back for Homer, and he was brought back after all this time because we were dry of better options.

If he gets some yards, great. But I don't think he needs to be focused on any more than any other RB at this point.

Good Lord, give it a rest. ukeface:

 

[Shanegotyou11]

Field gulls is just fans writing about the game. Social media gives fans a chance to act like analysts in the know. Some of the articles are good and some are whatever. They are just us on a broader spectrum.

 

[olyfan63]

Give it a rest?? What?? Now we can't break down and analyze things involving Marshawn, because the fan emotional attachment to Lynch and the storybook is too strong to process any criticism?

Both SantaClaraHawk and Chris make excellent points. The Marshawn helmet situation was apparently not as well reported in the Seattle media as in the SF-area media. How much did it contribute to the delay of game? I don't know, haven't seen video of it, and I think we'd have to see the entire sideline scene to get the proper context. But if it contributed even, say, 3 seconds to the delay of game, that's easily a difference-making margin. However, it's one of *several* factors that cumulatively resulted in the DOG penalty. Clearly the Fant-down situation contributed a lot as well.

Let's say it took 10 seconds after the spike for Pete and Schotty and whoever to decide the play call, but then that was happening during the Fant-down situation. Then another 5 seconds to relay the play call to Russell. Then however long for Russell to try to communicate personnel groupings. Then add 5 more seconds for the distraction and confusion of Fant-down. The 40 second play clock is now down to 20. Now let's subtract 5 more seconds for Marshawn's missing-helmet issue. The remaining 15 seconds, at that spot on the field, is not really enough to get one personnel group on, another off, and get to the line of scrimmage and snap the ball. Those numbers are not intended to be "correct" only offered for discussion.

Whatever the actual playclock time breakdown is, the majority of the time-wastage is on Pete and Schotty. In fairness, TWO separate SNAFUs happened on this play; Pete's usual margin for safety can only accommodate ONE snafu per 40 second playclock. So what does all this mean?

* Pete should GTFO of micromanaging the offense in hurry-up, time-limited situations, and let Schotty and Russell handle it. Pete adds extra time to the process, and he is not recognizing and managing the playclock timing issues.

* Pete's blind spot on this issue has led to TWO *huge*, playoffs-impacting losses from what could have been victories. (and maybe more)
(In fairness, we need to also give credit for all the last-second comeback wins, and even things like the Chris Matthews TD at the end of SB49 1st half, where the outcome was *brilliant* and successful.)

* This will continue to be at risk of happening again until Pete and others fix the *process* they use to deal with these situations. What is the "answer" for this? Maybe critical-situation analytics feedback like John Harbaugh? Better, more structured protocols and responsibilities for handling certain critical situations? Maybe, maybe not; the answer has to come from Pete, Schotty, and others involved. I suggest, for starters, Pete needs to take himself out of the critical-path communication and timing loop unless a timeout has been called.

* IIRC, Russell had to burn timeouts earlier due to other personnel grouping/playcall SNAFUs that he did not feel he could audible out of. So this issue, playcall timing, 40-second clock management, is an issue ALL the time, as it leads to burning timeouts that are then unavailable when TRULY needed, like in the last-second goal-line situations. Sounds like Pete, Schotty, and Russell need to identify and implement process-improvements in this area in general. Again, maybe it comes down to Pete taking himself out of the loop when there is not a timeout or other stoppage in play.

* Pete and Schotty should have the offense run a couple up-tempo no-huddle series each game, to hone this part of the game, rather than expecting thing to go brilliantly on command in those limited few crucial hurry-up situations. Not to mention that would keep defenses off balance and make our offense less predictable, AND play to Russell's unique strengths.

Back to the original topic, I'm pretty sure at this point that we will not see this issue, or other situational awareness issues happen again with Marshawn. I'm sure he's gotten the feedback and is awake again now on this stuff. It was what, an 18-month layoff since his last NFL game?

I do think that trying to "force" the Marshawn narrative was a *factor*, and Pete is awake and "forcing the storyline" will not be a factor again, at least not without timeouts. Remember, Pete is an LA guy with lots of entertainment awareness. I'm sure we'll see the storyline stuff where it makes football sense and doesn't have to be forced; not advocating against that. After all, the Russell Wilson 4th quarter comeback storyline is always a winner.

I'm also on board with SantaClaraHawk's point of view that it would be most accurate to view Marshawn as a situational option in running-back-by-committee. Homer showed excellent understanding of the offense, including the passing game, and is a better overall option. How quickly can Marshawn pick up the updated Schotty offense, the passing game in particular? And the different blocking schemes since Cable left, and how to know where the holes are that will fit his talents? He's not the "old" Marshawn unless he shows he is, and I think that's unrealistic to expect. We can hope for flashes of that, though. It's just as likely for Homer to make a big play from the RB spot, I'd think more so, than Marshawn, at this point.

Let's enjoy the ride!