His identity cloaked in the moment — Pete Carroll initially thought it may have been owner Mark Davis — no one in Raider Nation was surprised when they learned it was Marshawn Lynch. The All-Pro running back dropped in on the head coach’s introduction Monday and dropped a Beast Mode interruption.
“We do want to fill our stadium up with our guys,” Carroll started to answer from the podium. “I know that we have a good draw for people from … RAYYYYYYYDDERRRRSSS!”
Carroll and his 73-year-old heart survived the startling scream. And, by the way, Lynch said don’t call it an interruption.
“What happened with Pete,” Lynch recalled on this week’s Get Got Pod with former Seattle teammate Michael Robinson, “with Grandpa Pete, I had to go holler at my dawg. And it wasn’t no interrupting. He was already done when I yelled that sh— out. I know how that chopper screwed it. But it is what it is. I know it didn’t look like it but they got movie magic. They movie-magic’d that mother f—er up.”
Lynch first came to know Carroll when Seattle acquired the running back in a trade with Buffalo halfway through Carroll’s initial campaign with the Seahawks, 2010. Lynch went on to compile 7,690 scrimmage yards and 66 touchdowns in a Seahawks uniform, leading the franchise to a pair of Super Bowl berths and one title. In other words, Lynch knows Carroll well enough to crash his Raiders party, especially from their days in Seattle.
“You know, I got weird-ass hours of operation,” Lynch shared, remembering his morning encounters with Carroll at the Seahawks’ facility. “I’m talking being in the building at 4:30 in the morning or something … and Cuz would be coming in at like 5-ish. And, remember, he just left at like 1, 12, 12:30, midnight maybe. And when he was leaving out, he was walking with that same bounce that you see him on the field with. … ‘We just had a full day of work, and then you go home for about 10-20 minutes, and then come back and you got the same energy?’ … ‘Hey, hey, hey’ …
“So I asked dawg, ‘Hey, Bro, what you on? I know you take something, Bro.’ … ‘No, man. It’s life. Yeah! Let’s go! Compete! Compete!’”
But here’s the best part of that story for the Raiders, the NFL and everyone not associated with the other three AFC West teams.
“When I just seen him up at the Raiders facility … it was the same dude.”
For more information on the Raiders or the NFL hiring cycle, visit the Las Vegas team page and the Coach/GM Carousel page at ProFootballPost.com.
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