Lynch is a good, not great RB

[kernowboy]

I hear all the waves of support from Lynch fans but the point has to be made that if Lynch had come out in his senior year of 2008 rather than 2007, he might not have even been a 1st round pick.

We took Lynch at No12 in a very weak RB class. Apart from Peterson, who else has done well, gained over a 1,000yds etc?

Fast forward to 2008 and there are running backs in each of the first 3 rounds who surpassed 1,000yds

1st round - Chris Johnson 1,228 yds
2nd round - Matt Forte 1,228 yds
3rd round - Steve Slaton 1,282 yds

Lynch just sneaked over a 1,000yds but in a number of those games he was poor.

Whilst Tennesse have a good OL, the Bears and Texans don't

Lynch also has no excuse for his behaviour as he has a number of cousins who have played in the NFL including Lorenzo Lynch who could advise him on his behaviour and how to keep out of trouble.

His wonderlic score of 14* clearly does represent a lack of intelligence.

The 2009 draft is comparatively deep at RB, so the Bills should look to draft an RB and keep Lynch on a very short leash - at worst we may be able to get a R1 selection for him in 2010 if a teams RB goes down, and depending how Trent progresses that could be very important.

But at two strikes for poor judgement and behaviour whilst in a Bills uniform plus incidences before, his time here might be short.

Fortunately he plays in the position most easily replaceable

[dasaybz]

Put Lynch on the Titans and see how good he does.

He's easily one of the best RBs in the league. Go back and watch how many times he was hit in the backfield last year.

If he would have came out last year, he most definitely would have been a first round pick. He probably would have gone before all of them other than McFadden.

[Jan Reimers]

If he had a good run blocking line, his numbers would be far better.

[ddaryl]

I'll take a punishing never say die back like Lynch and have no problems with it...

The way he embraces Jackson as his partner at RB is another attribute that I highly respect...

his idiocy off the field is a concern, but I like the guy on the field

Continue to improve the team around him and he'll continue to get us solid results. Heck maybe if our LT doesn't hold out last year our running game actually gets going earlier and he does more then squeak by 1000 in 2008

[trapezeus]

there is an intangible effort with Lynch. He always goes. This should be valued by bills fans cause the last guy certainly did not have that fire. Mcgahee played when he could talk smack to a former University of Miami player. Otherwise, his effort was lackluster.

Marshawn, admittedly, dances around in the backfield just as much and in some cases, Jackson is better because he gets to the hole faster. But the giants have shown us that its good to have a brandon Jacobs like guy who just abuses people.

I also like lynch's ability to be a better runner later in the game. When he is doing ok during the beginning of a game, he really kicks it up another notch in the 4th quarter. That's an intangible and something that i think is hard to find in a RB.

I think that's why his off the field shennanigans are so annoying. Because he is the type of back you want when the game is on the line.He doesn't fumble and he can run out the clock late in a game. He needs to get his act together fast.

[yordad]

What makes one "great" opposed to "good"?

[tat2dmike77]

How about waiting till all the facts come out. If this is his gun and he is punished whether it be a fine, probation, community service or whatever. I say the Bills draft a RB in the later rounds and keep Lynch on a short leash with a choke chain and a shock collar.

If he is innocent of this then maybe someone needs to sit this kid down and tell him that he is screwing up his dream and that if he continues to pretend he is back on the block he will eventually end up back on the block. Let him that he can be released and replaced if he does not change his way of life off the field.

[justasportsfan]

Hard to be great when you have coaches that play not to lose instead of playing to win. Lynch has had to carry several defenders on his back with this scheme anyways.

[ddaryl]

and bad center play. When the middle of your line is collapsing defenders are getting to you earlier... but I also agree that early in the year Lynch was not hitting the hole hard, but he was at the end of the year...

[PECKERWOOD]

Put Lynch on the Titans and see how good he does.

He's easily one of the best RBs in the league. Go back and watch how many times he was hit in the backfield last year.

If he would have came out last year, he most definitely would have been a first round pick. He probably would have gone before all of them other than McFadden.


I remember McGahee apologists who were saying the same thing. (myself included)

[TacklingDummy]

Hard to be great when you have coaches that play not to lose instead of playing to win. Lynch has had to carry several defenders on his back with this scheme anyways.

Hard to be great when after running 60 yards you need to take the rest of the half of because you are out of shape.

Hard to be great when you run to contact and not the hole.

Hard to be great when you are injury prone.

Hard to be great when you have hands of stone.

[madness]

His wonderlic score of 14* clearly does represent a lack of intelligence.

Lynch was within range of the avg. score for a RB. (16)

He also had a3.2 GPA at Cal. I don't think that cleary represents a lack of intelligence.

[justasportsfan]

Hard to be great when after running 60 yards you need to take the rest of the half of because you are out of shape.

Hard to be great when you run to contact and not the hole.

Hard to be great when you are injury prone.

Hard to be great when you have hands of stone.

out of shape because you say the coaching that isn't the problem runs a resort and gives them days off?

What holes? The scheme can't create holes because it's so predictable and more conservative than the pope himself.

Eventually you'll break down when you have five guys on top of you.

He's caught more balls than any rb (bills) in recent years despite the qb carousel and a stupid OC. He's ranked 10th amongst rb's (no of catches) despite our qb situation. While it's nothing great, he's above average in that category.


I'm not saying he's great or that he sucks . I'm not sayning he will be or won't be great either , But because of idiotic coaching, every player gets the benefit of the doubt. Until we have a coaching staff thats proven no one really knows what every player on offense can do.

[kernowboy]

[quote=madness]Lynch was within range of the avg. score for a RB. (16)

quote]

So what you are saying is that he has below average intelligence for his position?

Great.

[EDS]

What makes one "great" opposed to "good"?

Results over an extended period of time.

[madness]

Lynch was within range of the avg. score for a RB. (16)



So what you are saying is that he has below average intelligence for his position?

Great.

Sure if you believe the wonderlic is a fail-proof testing method and that two whole points separate dumb from average... or you could believe every one of Marshawn's coach back to H.S. that says he definitely has football smarts and picks up everything from new plays to protection scheme's very quickly.

[PECKERWOOD]

Hard to be great when after running 60 yards you need to take the rest of the half of because you are out of shape.

Hard to be great when you run to contact and not the hole.

Hard to be great when you are injury prone.

Hard to be great when you have hands of stone.

I'm not sure that he is necessarily injury prone but it's obvious that a guy like Fred Jackson has more vision in terms of finding the seams. Also, I do agree with you that he has hard hands, as well. Now that I've criticized Lynch, I will say that I love his attitude. I admire the fact that he loves to make contact with the defense, however he still needs to be hitting them holes and hitting more homeruns! Despite Lynch's run-ins with the law, I do think he is a guy you want in your locker room. I personally think Lynch has great character and flare, he has just made some very stupid decisions lately and he needs to feel some pressure because of it.

[TacklingDummy]

I'm not sure that he is necessarily injury prone but it's obvious that a guy like Fred Jackson has more vision in terms of finding the seams. Also, I do agree with you that he has hard hands, as well. Now that I've criticized Lynch, I will say that I love his attitude. I admire the fact that he loves to make contact with the defense, however he still needs to be hitting them holes and hitting more homeruns! Despite Lynch's run-ins with the law, I do think he is a guy you want in your locker room. I personally think Lynch has great character and flare, he has just made some very stupid decisions lately and he needs to feel some pressure because of it.

:clap:

Also taking less hits = less of a chance being hurt.

[sting32]

Who's to say he's not great??? He just finished his 2nd year. Nobody said Thurman was great after 2 years.

[tat2dmike77]

Who's to say he's not great??? He just finished his 2nd year. Nobody said Thurman was great after 2 years.

Thurman was also not dodging police officers during the offseason in said second year.

[X-Era]

I hear all the waves of support from Lynch fans but the point has to be made that if Lynch had come out in his senior year of 2008 rather than 2007, he might not have even been a 1st round pick.

We took Lynch at No12 in a very weak RB class. Apart from Peterson, who else has done well, gained over a 1,000yds etc?

Fast forward to 2008 and there are running backs in each of the first 3 rounds who surpassed 1,000yds

1st round - Chris Johnson 1,228 yds
2nd round - Matt Forte 1,228 yds
3rd round - Steve Slaton 1,282 yds

Lynch just sneaked over a 1,000yds but in a number of those games he was poor.

Whilst Tennesse have a good OL, the Bears and Texans don't

Lynch also has no excuse for his behaviour as he has a number of cousins who have played in the NFL including Lorenzo Lynch who could advise him on his behaviour and how to keep out of trouble.

His wonderlic score of 14* clearly does represent a lack of intelligence.

The 2009 draft is comparatively deep at RB, so the Bills should look to draft an RB and keep Lynch on a very short leash - at worst we may be able to get a R1 selection for him in 2010 if a teams RB goes down, and depending how Trent progresses that could be very important.

But at two strikes for poor judgement and behaviour whilst in a Bills uniform plus incidences before, his time here might be short.

Fortunately he plays in the position most easily replaceable

Lynch is good not great I agree. If your saying hes not Jim Brown, or Barry Sanders, or Thurman. But using that caliper, I would say no ther RB in the league right now is great either.

That said, I agree hes not as good as Adrian Peterson, but all the rest of the RB's? Yeah, Id put him right up there with all of them.

What he hasn't done is go for 1500+ or even 1700+ yards... YET.

But running for 1000+ in each of his 2 years with us is no small task considering how inept our passing game has been at times, how weak our o-line has looked, and how our QB has struggled. I think the intangibles, the things you wont find on a stat sheet, like yards after first contact, or tackles broken, are why he deserves top honors.

The problem is that you simply cant get rid of, or brush off his stupid off the field problems. Nor, do we, or the Bills have any reason to believe he will stop screwing up anytime soon. He now has a character issue. We have never seen any glimpse of it on the field or when hes going about being a Bill, but its still there. And distractions like these are not what the Bills want or need.

Its a tough one. He, by all reports, is a fantastic team mate and an important part of the organization at this point. If it were me, I would have whatever discussions were necessary with him, and agree on a course of action for him to end his transgressions. And yes, I would give him a chance to show hes done with his stupid ways for good.

[Mr. Pink]

Lynch is a dime a dozen average NFL RB who with his style of play will lead to a shelf life of about 7 "average" NFL RB seasons of production.

He takes way too much punishment, which takes a toll on the body and limits a career.

Just look at other RBs who seek out contact constantly and how their productivity in this league has suffered once they hit 30 years old...

Lynch is in for the same type of career because of the type of player he is.

Difference is other guys this happened to, guys like Jamal Lewis, Larry Johnson, Barry Foster, Christian Okoye, etc put up better type of numbers before they hit that proverbial "wall."