Bills Are Hoping Lynch Will Run the Ball, Not His Mouth
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — In a city that has lost half its population during the past 50 years, the possibility that its football team might leave, too, is a source of persistent anxiety. So when Willis McGahee said in the February issue of Penthouse magazine that the Bills should move to Toronto, he became an instant pariah in Buffalo.
In March, McGahee, the Bills’ starting running back, was traded to Baltimore for draft picks. In an interview with The Baltimore Sun, McGahee insulted Buffalo’s dining, nightlife and women, leading to angry rebuttals in Buffalo that have only recently died down.
To replace McGahee, who rushed for 990 yards in 2006, Buffalo selected Marshawn Lynch out of California with the 12th pick in the first round of the draft in April. He was the second running back taken, after Minnesota selected Adrian Peterson of Oklahoma with the seventh pick.
Marshawn Lynch rushed for 1,356 yards as a junior in 2006 and was named the Pacific-10 Conference offensive player of the year. His mother calls him “the quiet one” of her four children. Cal teammates and staff call him “shy.”
“He’s real humble,” said Robert Jordan, a senior receiver at Cal and Marshawn Lynch’s cousin.
But the Bills did not choose the 5-foot-11, 215-pound Marshawn Lynch simply for having a below-the-radar personality. They were attracted to his speed (4.46 seconds in the 40-yard dash) and sure hands (34 receptions in 2006), and they hope he can be at least as effective as McGahee was — without any controversy.
Marshawn Lynch will start the season opener at home versus Denver on Sunday in an offense that suits his versatility. The Buffalo offensive coordinator, Steve Fairchild, coached Marshall Faulk in St. Louis, and Marshawn Lynch will be used in a similar role, sometimes lining up as a receiver.
“He gives us more options in the pass game,” quarterback J. P. Losman said of Marshawn Lynch. “He gives us more options running the ball a little bit. He hits the hole a little bit harder, a little bit quicker and a little bit faster.
“I think the biggest impact he’ll have is catching balls out of the backfield, tucking it down two-handed, making people miss and watching him go. I think it’s going to be exciting.”
The Bills finished the 2006 season 7-9, missing the playoffs for the seventh straight year, and had the 30th-ranked offense in the N.F.L., but there is a sense of optimism about the overhauled offense.
Buffalo spent $74 million during the off-season to sign the free-agent guard Derrick Dockery from Washington and tackle Langston Walker from Oakland. Still, the preseason was sobering for a supposedly revamped running game. In limited action in four games, Marshawn Lynch gained 37 yards on 22 attempts and had no touchdowns.
Allowing that Marshawn Lynch needs seasoning, Bills Coach Dick Jauron says that he likes what he has seen so far, and that Marshawn Lynch is ready to start.
“He’s very athletic,” Jauron said. “He’s diligent in his preparation. He’s clearly got a lot to learn. But he’s also clearly a very good athlete, by any standards.”
Losman pointed to the success of Joseph Addai of Indianapolis and Laurence Maroney of New England, both rookie running backs in 2006. Addai rushed for more than 1,000 yards and helped the Colts win the Super Bowl.
Losman has encouraged Marshawn Lynch, a native of Oakland, Calif., to follow his lead and become active in charities around Buffalo. Losman has engendered good will through his community organization Buffalo Lives. [On Saturday, he led more than 1,000 volunteers in planting trees and cleaning city streets.]
Marshawn Lynch has already shown a commitment to the region by moving his mother, Delisa, and his younger brother, Davonte, a freshman in high school, to a Buffalo suburb.
“I am a full-time resident,” he said. “I’m bringing my family here. I’m a family man.”
Marshawn Lynch has the words “Mama’s Boy” tattooed across his back in a tribute to his mother. He said she raised four children by herself in a tough section of Oakland.
Family, Marshawn Lynch said, helped him stay out of trouble. He often invokes a catchphrase, “Family first,” that he, his cousin Jordan and another cousin and former teammate at Cal, Virdell Larkins, coined as freshmen.
“Family first” includes a hand sign — middle and index fingers crossed and thumb extended. Marshawn Lynch and Jordan made the sign well known in Berkeley by flashing it after touchdowns to show “how much we love each other,” Jordan said. Bills fans are hoping to see the sign often this season.
And in a city that suffers with each barb, they could use a little love from their latest running back.
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