Marshawn Lynch's return might be bad for offense (article).

[kearly]

The offense has definitely changed in tempo and in terms of being more spread heavy. And there is some 'unknown' about how Lynch's surgically repaired hernia will hold up. And it will be extremely cold, so that might murk things up a bit, good or bad. And let's not forget, Lynch was averaging just 3.8 YPC previously this season. It could be that he's having the same season Shaun Alexander had in 2006. Shaun was about the same age with roughly the same amount of wear.

But all things considered, I'm pretty optimistic about Lynch in this game. To my eye he looked a step slower and a bit heavier early in the season, and now after training 8-10 hours a day with MMA trainers for a month, he looks as slim and fit as ever. During Monday evaluations Pete Carroll gave Lynch's status a rave review and in a bit of a surprise to all, immediately pronounced him the starter for Sunday without any "wait and see" caveats. This tells me that Lynch is at 100%, and might in fact be better off physically than he was in week 1.

And in terms of motivation, if it were even possible for Lynch to try any harder, he just might. Lynch is a smart man and he knows that his ability to get paid in 2016, either in Seattle or elsewhere, will depend on how well he runs in the playoffs. That's why he was working out 8-10 hours a day the past month when he could have gotten by with less. Money matters to MoneyLynch24.

Now in terms of scheme, I found Cable's comments on the subject to be a little confusing, because it's basically the same playbook as before. The only difference is a new emphasis on spread concepts.

Seattle has continued to run the ball well without Lynch in large part because the spread is good for the running game. Sometimes you'll see Seattle line up in 4 WR sets spread to the max (2 WRs lined up at each sideline). In that particular play, Seattle runs the ball about 90% of the time, despite having 4 WR on the field, because it eliminates the 8 man box.

IIRC, Lynch has had his best YPC out of 3 WR formations with no fullback. So even before this season, there was evidence that Lynch would play well in a spread offense.

The way I see it, a healthy Lynch, even at his current age and wear, is still probably a better RB than Christine Michael. And Michael has been doing just fine.

If Cable has any concerns about Lynch dancing too much behind an iffy OL, he has a week to get the message through to Lynch.

WIth Okung and Sweezy coming back, 4 of the 5 OL will be the same that Lynch rushed behind at the end of 2014.

So I see more reason for optimism than pessimism. Part of me wonders if Cable's comments were more about motivating Marshawn than anything else.

 

[RussB]

Anyone agree with this? The offense has changed and become more of a passing offense than a running offense. But i dont see how marshawn lynch can hurt this scheme unless they try to force the ball to him.

Heres the link.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... go-poorly/

Why do people say we've become more of a passing team than a running team? Cards game we ran 37, passed 32. Been like that for all of the PC era.

Idk it just kind of seems like we pass more, but really just more balanced and RW has been on fire.

 

[Ozzy]

Kearly while reading your post I was preparing to wrote exactly with what you finished with. I think Cable was attempting to motivate Lynch in a sense. The Lynch from the beginning of the year isn't as good as what we are seeing from Michael right now. I'm optimistic that we will see a much better Lynch and I think Michael continues to Excell as the second guy. Excited to see this duo the rest of the way.

 

[Dizzlepdx]

And let's not forget, Lynch was averaging just 3.8 YPC previously this season.

It should come as no surprise that as the whole offense stunk it up for the first 6 games, Marshawn's numbers were unimpressive.

Sometimes you'll see Seattle line up in 4 WR sets spread to the max (2 WRs lined up at each sideline). In that particular play, Seattle runs the ball about 90% of the time, despite having 4 WR on the field, because it eliminates the 8 man box.

It actually eliminates the 7 man box in most cases. Short side rant here: Why do announcers make a big deal about an 8 man box when an offense runs a 2-wr set? A defense is going to get crushed on a regular basis if they have 7 defenders for 7 run blockers. Outside of 3rd and long, most defenses will almost always have one more defender in the box than the offense has blockers.

 

[byau]

Marshawn will be 'gruntled' just fine. :laugh:

The whole BS comment is missing two key facts.

1. The whole premise that we are a "run-first" team. Sure, we run more than most teams, but so what? Pete has always said that he wants a balanced attack, which to most folks means we'll run about as many run plays as pass plays.

Going with this, Pete also said we managed about 30 or 35 carries (don't recall the number) and so having Marshawn take the majority of those on instead of Christine and Bryce isn't a stretch at all. Makes sense to me

2. That Marshawn is some kind of mal-content if he doesn't get his way. Marsh has been a team guy since the beginning. Sure, he has shown some minor indicators that he might not have been happy with a particular play call or whatever, but there has never been any indication that he is some kind of a locker room cancer.

Definitely agreed here. One thing that is obvious is he is fiercely loyal to those who are loyal back to him. The big dogs on the Seahawks are fiercely loyal to Marshawn. There is also the example that the whole team understands Marshawn is just a bit different and all let him do his thing to some extent, and you can see Marshawn appreciates it and gives it all back in spades. And that one story about when Marshawn was first brought to the team for his "initiation".. I gotta think that it has been a very consistent message from Coach and the team to Marshawn that they are loyal to him. And that's why I can't see him being anything but loyal back. (well, that SB49 playcall does leave a bad taste in my mouth, I'm sure his too, but anyway you get the gist and I'd wager Marshawn has been inspired by watching all his teammates on the offense ballin')

Agreed, great points sutz

 

[chris98251]

To be fair to Lynch we really don't know when the onset of the injury started, think about trying to drive your legs against 300 pound men in piles trying to stop you. I am waiting to see how much leg explosion he has the next few game.

 

[Sealake80]

Thats just feed for the Beast

 

[Inspector]

Early on in this thread I said:

"I just don't see Marshawn being thrown in full time coming off of this type of surgery. I went through it myself 7 or 8 years ago and you have to be careful not to turn the recovery into a injury."


Tech Worlds replied with:

"Your not a world class athlete.

Those who are strong, and in good shape, recover much faster than normal people."

Of course he couldn't know that I was strong and in very good shape (and 10 years younger at the time) at the time of my surgery, although not a professional athlete. When they slice your abdominal muscles with a blade it take a minute to heal.

Unfortunately the world class athlete apparently didn't board the bus yesterday. Komo is headlining the story this morning that Lynch will not play against the Vikings and did not travel to Minnesota.

I was sold on Michael when he first came to the team. I was as disappointed as anyone in how things turned out and fairly skeptical when he returned to the Hawks. Add that to the Rawls injury and i was a bit worried about the running game, even knowing that Lynch would return eventually.

That said, I was also very pleasantly surprised with the renewed effort Michael brought. Hopefully he continues to play the way he has. Go Christine!!!