ALAMEDA — Marshawn Lynch presented his appeal to the NFL on Monday to overturn his one-game suspension for bumping an official and Oakland coach Jack Del Rio hopes to get a resolution soon.
“We expect to hear something early in the week,” Del Rio said. “Hopefully by tomorrow would be the fairest thing for the team to prepare.”
Lynch was suspended for next Sunday’s game at Buffalo without pay for coming off the sideline during a scuffle in the second quarter and then shoving a game official during Oakland’s 31-30 victory over Kansas City last Thursday night. The ban will cost him more than $100,000 in salary and per game roster bonuses.
The incident started when Oakland quarterback Derek Carr was hit late on a run by Kansas City’s Marcus Peters midway through the second quarter. Several of the Raiders offensive linemen, including Kelechi Osemele and Donald Penn, immediately confronted Peters, and Lynch sprinted onto the field from the bench to join the fray. Line judge Julian Mapp tried to break up the fight, but Lynch pushed him and grabbed his jersey. Lynch was ejected and got a personal foul.
“I was disappointed we had a player leave the bench, something we talk about,” Del Rio said. “Don’t leave the bench area.”
While several players have only been fined for making contact with an official, Lynch also left the sideline to join the fray, making his infraction worthy of a suspension, according to NFL vice president of football operations Jon Runyan.
Lynch and Peters are both Oakland natives and are so close they consider each other family. Some of Lynch’s teammates said he came out on the field as a peacemaker looking to separate Peters from the Oakland players.
Lynch came out of retirement this season and was traded from Seattle to the Raiders. Lynch said he wanted to make a comeback so he could give something back to his hometown of Oakland before the Raiders move to Las Vegas in 2020.
After a promising start, Lynch hasn’t provided much production for Oakland. He had just two carries for 9 yards before his ejection and has rushed for 266 yards on 72 carries (3.7 yards per carry) with two touchdowns so far this season.
After gaining 121 yards the first two weeks, he is averaging just 29 yards per game the past five weeks.
With Lynch sidelined, the Raiders will rely heavily on smaller, second-year backs Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington. Richard has rushed for 158 yards on 35 carries this season, while Washington has 53 yards on 23 runs.
“They don’t have the size and the power but they have a little more quickness,” Del Rio said. “They catch the ball a little easier, better route runners. If you’re playing a little more wide open in some respects they give you a little more juice. Marshawn gives you the power back when you want to finish people in tough situations. Those guys give you more than a change of pace.”
NOTES: Del Rio had no update on the status of CB David Amerson, who left the game last week with a foot injury. … Del Rio said he hopes the extra days off will help LBs Marquel Lee (ankle), Corey James (knee) and Nicholas Morrow (ankle) recover in time to be full speed this week. … Del Rio said there is no timetable on the return of rookie CB Gareon Conley, who has missed the past five games with a shin injury that also forced him to miss all of training camp.
