Oakland Raiders Have Closer Now in Marshawn Lynch

The Oakland Raiders were already able to come back and win games with Derek Carr. Now, they can close games out they’re ahead in with Marshawn Lynch.

Last year, QB Derek Carr was second in the NFL in 4th-quarter comebacks and game-winning drives to Matthew Stafford. He just became less likely to finish ahead in that category this year.  Legendary RB Marshawn Lynch has agreed to terms with the Oakland Raiders.

So Carr will now have an RB that he and turn around and give the ball to run the clock out. The defense will be a lot better too so it will be much easier for the Raiders to hold onto leads. The 4th-quarter heroics he’s known for won’t be needed as often.

Many pointed at the departure of Latavius Murray for the Raiders need for a big, physical primary ball carrier. All they had on the roster coming in were smaller RBs Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington. But they needed that when Murray was still on the roster.

Murray is 6’3″, 230 pounds but he wasn’t a physical runner and couldn’t break tackles. That’s why he only did well against bad run defenses that left big holes. But according to Pro Football Focus, Lynch led the NFL with 245 broken tackles between 2013 and 2016.

That’s 56 more than the next guy and he didn’t even play football in 2016. Also according to PFF, he’s averaged 2.8 yards after contact per carry for his career and 3.1 yards after contact in 2014. Of course, 2014 was the last year Lynch was seen healthy on a football field.

And Lynch got himself back to 100 percent over his year off after abdominal surgery. So there’s no reason not to expect him to be the Beast Mode he was in the past. Put that together with the  Raiders O-line and they are going to wear defenses down close games out.

And that’s another way the Raiders can, “Just win, baby!”