If Lynch is indeed signaling that he's hanging up his cleats, it should come as no surprise that he did so without words. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported earlier Sunday that Lynch has been telling friends he plans to retire. During an interview with 710 ESPN Seattle earlier this offseason, general manager John Schneider said he believed Lynch was leaning that way. http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/1...e-seahawks-posts-photo-hanging-cleats-twitter
i think he is taking hanging it up too literally. I'd retire too. who the hell passes the ball at the 2 with the best back after contact. freaking seahawks are still pissing me off.
Were you surprised by the play call? If one of the aspects of being a good play caller is to not be predictable and keep the defense guessing... Was it really that bad of a call? Every playcall, even the most innovative and unexpected, still relies on execution... Also the opposing defense has to be given some credit as well (sometimes they do make amazing plays... It's not just always the offense/QB making mistakes).
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Amazing how similar the careers of Marshawn Lynch and HOF RB Earl Campbell turned out to be... <a href="https://t.co/Fua5dAIYo9">pic.twitter.com/Fua5dAIYo9</a></p>— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/696567506979258369">February 8, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> I'm too young to have watched Earl, so maybe I'm wrong. But Earl seems like the far superior RB. Marshawn was largely irrelevant until he joined SEA. Thoughts from those who watched both? Sidenote, here's my favorite (largely unknown) Marshawn interview...with Gaines Adams (RIP): <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t-iel089cEE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
He was irrelevant but it wasn't an indictment on his talent. Every team in the NFL knew he could play. As far as Campbell vs Lynch - IMO, comparing stats is futile in the NFL. With that said, Campbell was never known for putting up massive career stats.
Earl ran over players. Lynch ran over Pedestrians. Nice career tho'. He brought it. Saved all of his 50 million which was brilliant. But another one bites the dust.
And Earl has paid the significant price for his body getting beat up in that era. Hell, all the past SB MVP's the NFL trotted out yesterday looked about 10-20 years older than they really are. Many from the 70's (where excessive hard-hitting was not only allowed, it was encouraged/vouched for) looked far worse than the players prior and the players after.
you stick to the bread and butter, especially when you have Lynch. if 2009 steve slaton, i'd understand. but god told winston that int had to happen, doesn't mean i like it or it was the right call. beast mode!
I agree that they over-thunk it.... that being said, if Lynch gets the ball (like everybody is expecting), and the Patriots stuff it, doesn't that make the "bread-and-butter" call a predictable/questionable one? As it was, it took an incredible play by the Pats CB to make that pick (buoyed in part because Belichick's anal-retentive preparation actually had that play scouted)... sometimes you have to tip your hat to the defense too.
Imagine the Texans are closing in on a Superbowl win. They're up by 1 with just under 2 minutes left on the clock. Opponent has no timeouts left. The Texans offense is on the 50 yard line, but it's 4th and short. Do you put the game in the hands of your offense and go for it, or do you punt and trust your defense to bring home the W? That's why that call just sits so wrong with so many people. If I'm a Texans fan, I can handle losing by way of my defense. They are what brought us here, if the opposing team can drive down the field 40+ yards in 90-some-odd seconds and kick the game winner, then they deserve to win. Their ace beat our ace. That's what sports is. One wiener bigger than another. You accept it, and move on. But if Brian Hoyer's naked boot turns into a sack fumble I would probably jump off the roof of NRG and hopefully hit every glass plate window on the way down.
What sticks with people is that the play-call didn't work... but that doesn't necessarily mean it was the *wrong* play-call. If Wilson hits the wide-open WR on a slant pattern (the intended result of the surprise play-call), everybody would have been saying how "genius" it was to run something unexpected, and nobody would have been clamoring for a rushing attempt after the fact. Several instances throughout games, people blame the play-calling when things aren't going well... when in reality, that's just one of three aspects of a successful play commencing (the other two being the actual execution of the play... just one person missing his assignment could screw it up/make it look bad, and the defense playing a role in stopping it). Likewise, there are several instances of where the offense will get away with a play-call they had no business converting/succeeding at. Its part of what makes football so intriguing... the preparation/scheming/game-planning/execution that goes far beyond what you see in any other sport. People wonder why Kubiak's first drives always look pretty effective/great play-calls whereas they typically get diminishing offensive returns as the game goes on... does he allofasudden become a bad play-caller? Or are there other elements/aspects to why an offense succeeds that go beyond the simple play-call.. whether or not its the *right* play-call.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">“He's not carrying the football, he's carrying his team” - Tom Cable on <a href="https://twitter.com/MoneyLynch">@MoneyLynch</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ThankYouBeastMode?src=hash">#ThankYouBeastMode</a><a href="https://t.co/IKKh5R5elX">https://t.co/IKKh5R5elX</a></p>— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/Seahawks/status/696751831087583232">February 8, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Well...the idea behind the playcall may have been entering an element of unpredictability... ...but it was still the wrong play to call in that situation. ...Let's say Pete Carroll wants the ball in Russell Wilson's hands for that last play (which is what the premise is)... ...not necessarily a problem with that...a lot of what the Seahawks do offensively is read/option football... ..there's no need to try to do things that you don't normally do...no reason not to line up in that option formation...no reason not to fake a handoff to Marshawn Lynch and have Wilson keep the ball and try to make a play on the edge (extending the play)... ...spread formations with 4 suspect receivers just isn't in Seattle's DNA as a football team...not even counting for the guts it took to jump the route by the Patriots cornerback...who, if the Seattle receivers are used to running that anyway, attack the route themselves more aggressively.... ...you are who you are as a team...and getting too far away from that (ESPECIALLY in situations tailor-made for the kind of approach your offense is built for).... ....is why Denver won last night and Seattle didn't last year. ...sometimes over-thinking it is worse that anything....
The main stat is, Campbell 2 vs Lynch 0 Spoiler MVPs Lynch had maybe the best run in football history though <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/odRprM5At-A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Similar run against the '13 Texans <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OPjacPqoyQ8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>