Bay Area radio host Damon Bruce rips Raiders RB Marshawn Lynch and he’s right

On Friday, 95.7 the Game’s Damon Bruce ripped Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch after his behavior got him ejected for making contact with an official during the Raiders’ 31-30 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday Night Football.

“You are a douchebag of the first degree,” Bruce said of Lynch on Friday’s broadcast. “And you deserve every minute of your unpaid suspension. . . It's probably a good thing for the Raiders. Probably a good thing for the Raiders’ offensive game plan next week. . . Marshawn Lynch has done three things this year. He took a seat. He did a dance. He ran on the field.”

As Bruce was giving his opinion on the Oakland native, the NFL made it official, suspending Lynch for one game for his unsportsmanlike conduct Thursday night. Oakland will be without Lynch, pending an appeal, next week against the Buffalo Bills. A pivotal match-up that could massively influence the AFC playoff picture.

Bruce is right, though. And Raider Nation should not worry at all about Lynch’s expected absence.

So far, he has only averaged 3.7 yards per carry behind one of the league’s best offensive lines. Compare that to former Raiders running back Latavius Murray’s 4.0 yards per carry in 2016.

Even worse, Lynch’s longest run on the season is just 16 yards.

For a team that has quarterback Derek Carr and should be pass oriented, the quicker and better pass catching running backs Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington should actually be more impactful than Lynch.

This suspension and behavior gives coach Jack Del Rio an excuse to limit Lynch’s snaps even more once he comes back. And he was already receiving under 12 carries per game.

In the passing game we have even seen Carr struggle to connect with Lynch many times including a costly turnover last Sunday against the Los Angles Chargers that took away a valuable scoring drive in a one-point defeat.

That’s not to say that it isn’t exciting to watch Lynch’s passion but his actions to get ejected were quite unacceptable especially for a thus far sub-par running back.

Any stupid penalties, like Lynch’s last night that threaten to cost the team their season in a crucial game, cannot be tolerated.

Del Rio has an opportunity to set an example with Lynch and he must not be lenient whatsoever despite Lynch’s name. The margin of error is minimal and any loss will be greatly detrimental to the Raiders’ postseason chances.

If the former Cal Bear wants to continue being himself, he better be available and improve his play on Sundays. If not, he should be treated as every other NFL player that would never have dreamt of getting away with what he did on Thursday.