Lynch weathers storm, reaches milestone
Marshawn Lynch, the kid from Oakland, Calif., figures he should get used to severe winters in Western New York.
“I’m going to be here, so I’m going to play in the snow a little bit,” said the Buffalo Bills rookie running back. “It’s different weather for me.”
Lynch and the Bills traded the wind and snow they experienced last week in Cleveland for wind and rain — then rain mixed in with snow — for Sunday’s home game against the New York Giants. And, just as they did last Sunday in Cleveland, the Bills came up on the short end, this time, 38-21.
It was a bittersweet moment for Marshawn Lynch, who became only the fourth Bills rookie to rush for more than 1,000 yards and the first in 23 years. After gaining 70 yards on 18 carries, Lynch sits at 1,010 yards with one game remaining.
“It really doesn’t have any relevance for me,” said Marshawn Lynch of reaching the milestone. “After this last game I’m going home, but I wanted to see what the playoffs are like.”
While any postseason hopes faded with last week’s 8-0 loss at Cleveland, Marshawn Lynch joined Joe Cribbs (1980), Greg Bell (1984) and Terry Miller (1978) as the only Bills rookies to eclipse the 1,000-yard barrier. He is also the 12th rookie to reach 1,000 yards in the NFL since 2000.
But on Sunday, the Bills were only able to run the ball in spurts against the league’s 12th-ranked run defense, finishing with 117 yards.
“You want to get your passing game going as well and not be one dimensional out there,” Lynch said. “We got it started, but couldn’t keep it going.”
Lynch didn’t even try to use the poor weather as a crutch. The Giants, after all, played in the same conditions and rushed for 291 yards for an average of 6.2 yards a pop.
“You can’t let the weather factor too much in it,” Marshawn Lynch said. “No matter what the conditions are, you still have to play football. The last two weeks, we weren’t on the ball like we should have been.”
Peters leaves in first half
Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters injured his groin early in the second quarter and didn’t return. Peters, who was replaced by Kirk Chambers, was seen walking to the locker room just after the twominute warning in the first half.
The momentum quickly shifted to the Giants once Peters left the game. The Bills were leading 14-7 at the time and on the series following Peters’ injury, the offensive line allowed its first sack in four games. Trent Edwards was sacked twice more and the offense was stagnant for the remainder of the game.
“I don’t think it really changed too much,” Edwards said. “We still kind of stuck to our game plan and you have to give a lot credit to that defense. Obviously, Jason is a big part of our offense but I didn’t feel like it really should have changed anything.”
Middle of the road
Seven of the Bills’ eight losses have come against teams with winning records.
“It kind of has to tell you where we are right now and what we can do,” Bills safety Jim Leonhard said. “We need to get better to get to where we want to get. We had some tough losses, but you have to give those teams a lot of credit.”
Success with challenges
Bills coach Dick Jauron is now 8-2 on challenges this season. Jauron challenged Eli Manning’s 55-yard completion down the right sideline to Amani Toomer. Toomer made a diving catch at the Buffalo 33, got up and ran before getting tackled at the Buffalo 15-yard line by Leonhard. Jauron challenged that Toomer was down by contact and the play was reversed, giving the Giants’ first-and-10 and the Bills’ 31.
Inactive lists
The Bills inactives for Sunday were Gibran Hamdan, Coy Wire, Shaud Williams, Jerametrius Butler, Christian Gaddis, Patrick Estes, Ryan Neufeld and Copeland Bryan. Wide receiver Roscoe Parrish, who was questionable because of a sore shoulder, started as the third receiver.
The Giants inactives were Jared Lorenzen, Danny Ware, Kevin Dockery, Adam Koets, Manny Wright, Sinorice Moss, David Tyree and Jerome Collins.
Bradshaw takes it outside
Ahmad Bradshaw’s 88-yard run for a touchdown in the fourth quarter was the longest run ever against the Bills and the third-longest in Giants history.
“They called a 38 power to the right,” Bradshaw said. “Outside runs are my favorite plays to run. I told the linemen that if they blocked it right they could spring me and they did.”
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