After Sunday’s win over the Titans was over, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr said that the team got to see that “Marshawn is Marshawn” while discussing the afternoon that running back Marshawn Lynch had in his first regular season game since the 2015 season.
Lynch hit all the classics in the 26-16 win. He ran over Titans defensive tackle Jurrell Casey, he ground out yards in short yardage, he helped run out the clock on a win with 12 second-half carries, he flashed middle fingers at a television camera and he kept his thoughts to himself about all of it outside of briefly poking his head into coach Jack Del Rio’s press conference after the game.
Lynch ran 18 times for 76 yards and caught one pass for 16 yards. Wide receiver Amari Cooper said after the game that you don’t want to miss any of them.
“Every time you know he’s about to get the ball, you’re watching because you know something amazing is going to happen,” Cooper said, via the San Jose Mercury News.
If the Raiders had drawn up the kind of contribution they wanted to see from Lynch this year, it would have looked a lot like what they got on Sunday.