Lynch, Seahawks hope union proves beneficial to both

RENTON, Wash. -- At the University of California, Marshawn Lynch couldn't stand Pete Carroll, wishing somehow he could lay a hit on the USC coach.

"He was one of the only coaches you would see running up and down the field like he was playing in the game," Lynch said Wednesday after his first practice with the Seattle Seahawks. "Running up, jumping and having fun with his players. They were over there dogging us, and you just sit there watching them have all this fun (thinking), 'Man, what is he doing? Run me to that sideline so I can hit him one time.'"

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Now Lynch can't wait to see all of Carroll's theatrics, considering he's providing the running back a fresh start in his NFL career.

After months of debate over Lynch's future in Buffalo, the former first-round draft pick finally was dealt to Seattle in exchange for two draft picks.

And true to Carroll's word, the Seahawks didn't waste any time in putting Lynch on the field and trying to fix a floundering run game.

After arriving in Seattle around 11 p.m. on Tuesday night, Lynch was at Seahawks headquarters around 6 a.m. Wednesday and on the practice field a few hours later.

"I feel this change is a great opportunity for me, not only in football, but in life as well," Lynch said. "Everything that happened with me I feel is an opportunity, the things that come out of it, the way I handle it. This is another one and I plan to handle this situation just as good as I handled the rest. I say that because I'm still here standing."

Lynch's past issues include a June 2008 traffic violation in which he struck a female pedestrian with his car and a guilty plea for a March 2009 misdemeanor gun charge in Los Angeles, after police discovered a semiautomatic handgun in a backpack in the trunk of a parked car in which Lynch was sitting. The gun charge resulted in a three-game league suspension last year.

"That was a thing of the past," Lynch said. "I feel if you often revisit your past, you get stuck there, and that's not what I'm about. I'm moving forward."

And the Seahawks hope Lynch can move their lagging run game forward. They enter their bye week ranked 27th in the NFL in running behind a makeshift offensive line that might finally have all its expected starters playing when the team travels to Chicago for an Oct. 17 meeting with the Bears.

The lack of a run game has put more pressure on Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.

"We've been talking about getting the running game going, and this makes it a lot tougher for people to defend us," Hasselbeck said. "It gives us a huge opportunity in play-action, it gives us huge opportunities with the naked bootleg and just all kinds of things."

The Seahawks believe Lynch's rugged running style will be the answer for an offense that has gone nearly five seasons without a running back approaching 1,000 yards. Lynch, 24, rumbled for more than 1,000 yards in each of his first two NFL seasons. He'll also play in an offense with a similar blocking scheme to what the Bills used.

Considering the past debate and previous talks with Bills management, Lynch believed it was a joke being pulled by one of his former teammates when he first received word of the trade.

"It was a big surprise," Lynch said. "But at the same time, (it's) a little excitement as well."

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

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With Lynch traded, Jackson steps in as Bills' starting RB

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Fred Jackson doesn't have time to question the reasoning behind why the Buffalo Bills traded fellow running back Marshawn Lynch to the Seattle Seahawks -- though he was aware a deal had been in the works.

What matters to Jackson is providing the Bills' sputtering offense a sense of identity now that he has reclaimed the starting job he had in taking over for Lynch midway through last season.

"That's the business side of it, that's what they handle upstairs," Jackson said before practice Wednesday, one day after Lynch was traded to the Seahawks in exchange for draft picks. "All we can do is come out here on the field and play with the guys we have. We have to focus on going out and winning football games."

And that has been the problem for the winless Bills, who are going through another round of upheaval while preparing to host the Jacksonville Jaguars (2-2) on Sunday.

Last week, Buffalo shuffled quarterbacks after cutting former starter Trent Edwards, who has since signed with Jacksonville and will serve as the team's backup this weekend. This week, its running backs, as the Bills came to the conclusion that three is, in fact, a crowd.

Lynch's departure frees up more carries for Jackson and rookie first-round pick C.J. Spiller, who has yet to provide the spark he showed in scoring three touchdowns this preseason.

In his first opportunity to discuss the trade, Bills coach Chan Gailey wouldn't provide details into the timing of the move even though Lynch had first asked to be dealt well before the Bills drafted Spiller.

"I don't get into sooner or later, there's a lot of things that go into decisions like this," Gailey said. "You're trying to do what's best for your team. And it worked out that a trade was made, and we're fortunate we have two good players that can carry the load for us the rest of the way."

Gailey said he's leaning on Jackson because, as a fourth-year pro, he has more experience. And he intends to have Spiller more involved. Spiller has scored a touchdown receiving and another on a kickoff return, but he has just 49 yards on 14 carries.

Lynch had received the bulk of the work in starting the past three games, and he led the Bills with 37 carries -- three more than Jackson and Spiller had combined -- for 164 yards. That left Jackson and Spiller splitting limited playing time because Buffalo's offense was either having difficulty sustaining drives or forced to play catch-up by going primarily with a passing attack.

Not much has worked on an offense that has failed to generate 230 yards in three of its four games and is averaging 13.5 first downs.

The Bills all but bottomed out in a 38-14 loss to the New York Jets last weekend. It was a game in which quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick led the team with 74 rushing yards, and Buffalo went 0 of 10 in third-down conversions and finished with 19:31 in time of possession.

Enter Jackson, who had a breakout season last year in finishing with a team-leading and career-best 1,062 rushing yards.

Jackson learned of his promotion upon arriving for team meetings Wednesday and shortly after he wished Lynch well with his new team during a phone conversation.

"Now it's my time to stand up here and try to make plays," Jackson said. "It's going to be a challenge. It always is, but it's a challenge I'm looking forward to."

The trade didn't catch Jackson by surprise because he said Lynch had kept him up to date on the progress of talks over the past few weeks.

Spiller, selected ninth overall out of Clemson, was surprised by the move, saying he believe a three-back rotation had a chance to work. However, Spiller acknowledged he's having difficulty finding his niche.

"I'm still unsure what my role is," he said. "It's kind of disappointing that you don't really know. But at the same time, you know what you can bring to this team. I stay encouraged by that. So you just wait your turn and try to help the team any way you can."

Fitzpatrick wasn't surprised by the trade, given how Buffalo's offense has sputtered and the team is winless.

"Well, there's never a dull moment in the NFL, especially when you're losing," Fitzpatrick said. "It's just one of those things we had talked about, crowded backfield and trying to get everybody touches. Hopefully, it works out for Marshawn, and hopefully, it works out well for us."

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

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Seahawks land veteran RB Lynch in trade with Bills

A fresh start for Marshawn Lynch. A rugged runner for the Seattle Seahawks' lagging ground game.

Marshawn Lynch should become the No. 1 running back in Seattle, meaning he should be added to your team if he's still available in your fantasy league. More ...

And a clear sign that the rebuilding continues in Buffalo.

The Bills gave up on Lynch as their featured ball carrier Tuesday, trading him to the Seahawks for two undisclosed draft picks.

NFL Network insider Jason La Canfora reported via a league source that one of the picks will be a fourth-round selection in the 2011 NFL Draft.

The deal clears the way for Buffalo to give more playing time to Fred Jackson and first-round draft pick C.J. Spiller in the backfield. And Seattle hopes Lynch can provide a spark that was missing from its run game through the first four weeks of the season.

"We bring a guy into the program that we think is going to give us a little boost," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said after practice Tuesday. "You know that we've emphasized trying to get this running game in order. We hope that he'll help in that regard. We're pleased to get that done. We'll move forward this week. It's good we're on a break. It doesn't disrupt a game-week preparation, and we'll get him in here as soon as possible and we'll get to work."

The Seahawks (2-2) have a bye week following their 20-3 loss to the St. Louis Rams on Sunday. That gives Lynch time to become acclimated to Seattle's offense and potentially be on the field Oct. 17 when the team visits the Chicago Bears.

"We're going to bring him in to play a lot," Carroll said. "We'll wait and see when we get him here, but we're bringing him in here to play a bunch."

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The Seahawks released running back Julius Jones, their leading rusher the past two seasons, to clear a roster spot for Lynch. Jones restructured his contract and took a hefty pay cut right before the start of the season, then carried the ball just 12 times for 30 yards and was inactive Sunday against the Rams.

Seattle's run game has struggled through four games, ranking 27th in the NFL with 79.5 yards per game. The Seahawks were held below 80 rushing yards three times, putting more pressure on veteran quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.

Without a clear No. 1 running back, the Seahawks ran by committee before settling on speedy Justin Forsett the past two weeks. Forsett had a season-high 19 carries Sunday against the Rams, but he managed just 65 yards. Seattle hasn't seen a back approach 1,000 yards since Shaun Alexander was the league MVP in 2005 after running for 1,880 yards and 27 touchdowns in the team's NFC championship season.

Now Forsett and Lynch -- teammates at the University of California -- are reunited in Seattle. Lynch was a groomsman at Forsett's wedding earlier this year.

"We're different backs, but I think they complement it well," Forsett said. "If you go back at Cal, we had a nice little one-two punch there, and it's always exciting. Any given moment, any one of us could break, and it was pretty fun. We just have fun together."

Also on Tuesday, the Seahawks re-signed offensive lineman Chester Pitts -- who was cut last week -- and released lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith.

On the other side, the Lynch trade only highlights the much larger rebuilding job in front of the Bills (0-4), who lost to the New York Jets 38-14 last weekend and play host to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. Last week, first-year Bills coach Chan Gailey released former starting quarterback Trent Edwards, who is now with the Jaguars.

"Marshawn has worked hard and played hard for us this season and we certainly appreciate his efforts," first-year Bills general manager Buddy Nix said in a statement released by the team. "We are constantly evaluating our personnel and feel that this is a good move for our team's future."

Spiller shared warm thoughts about Lynch on Tuesday.

“He was a great teammate and I wish him all the best,” Spiller told buffalobills.com. “Our friendship was more like a brotherhood and I’m definitely going to stay in contact with him.”

The Bills filled Lynch's roster spot by signing rookie running back Andre Anderson off their practice squad, a league source told La Canfora.

After losing his starting job to Jackson last season, Lynch reclaimed the job in Week 2 this year and led the Bills with 37 carries for 164 yards. In 45 career games, he has 2,765 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns, along with 670 receiving yards and one score.

The deal, made two weeks before the NFL trade deadline, marks a turnaround in philosophy for the Bills, who said last spring that they didn't intend to trade Lynch. He had been seeking a fresh start after his reputation in Buffalo took a hit following off-the-field troubles.

In June 2008, Lynch pleaded guilty to a traffic violation and admitted to driving off after striking a female pedestrian with his car near Buffalo's downtown bar district. In March 2009, Lynch pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge in Los Angeles, after police discovered a semiautomatic handgun in a backpack of the trunk of a parked car in which Lynch was sitting.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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