The Seattle Seahawks were understandably careful with veteran running back Marshawn Lynch on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers.
Beast Mode returned to the team last Monday, which gave him just six days to learn the playbook, get in football shape and contribute – making his 12 carries for 34 yards and a touchdown pretty impressive.
Now, the 33-year-old has another week under his belt, and he’ll not only be physically prepared for a bigger workload against the Eagles on Sunday afternoon, he’s getting the entire playbook opened up to him as well.
“He can do everything we’re doing,” coach Pete Carroll said on Friday. “He’s got the whole game plan.”
Lynch played 23 offensive snaps last week, getting 12 carries and otherwise being used primarily as a decoy in play-action sets.
One area he wasn’t featured much was in pass protection – which is where offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer sees him contributing more in the playoffs.
“He’s much more comfortable this week, so there’s things he can do from a pass protection standpoint,” Schottenheimer said on Thursday. “Obviously, some that he maybe he wasn’t very comfortable with last week. It’s week two, a week that he’s more comfortable with the terminology and just kind of playing the position with the guys that we got, especially the blocking unit up front. It’s a big part for the back is how the holes get opened up and the combination blocks. They look a little bit different than maybe they did when he was doing it a couple years ago.”
Seattle has no reason to go away from rookie Travis Homer as the featured back after he carried the ball 10 times for 62 yards last week, so fans shouldn’t expect 20 carries for Beast Mode on Sunday.
However, he made it through the first week healthy, and should have an increased role for Seattle while they look to break the Eagles four-game win streak and advance closer to another Super Bowl appearance.
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