Marshawn Lynch sideline dance in his Oakland home debut inspired Raiders teammates ‘he never did that in Seattle’

“It was exceptional. I was actually very inspired,” Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio said of Marshawn Lynch’s dancing on sideline during the Raiders’ 45-20 win over the Jets.

Today was all about Lynch making his Oakland home debut. For a man who represents Oakland and its people like few others, the game really couldn’t have gone better.

The Raiders scored six touchdowns, three through the air and three on the ground. One of those touchdown was Lynch himself punching it up the middle from 2 yards out. It was his first touchdown as a Raider and hit happened in his home debut. What more could you ask for?

So, he danced.

Caught off guard by the display, I didn’t get a shot of the jumbotron, which stayed on Marshawn dancing for some time. The display was caught on the broadcast though and was tweeted out.

His elation came right after Jalen Richard took a pitch 52 yards to paydirt, putting the Raiders up by a score of 35-13 with 12:49 left in the game. Essentially it was the nail in the coffin that gave the Raiders the win.

As you might expect, he was a man of few words after the game, saying of his dance and the crowd reaction “It felt good.” But his teammates would put into words what he put into motion on the sideline.

No one understands what Marshawn is feeling right now than Donald Penn, who was also a fan of the Raiders growing up in Los Angeles

“If you grow up cheering for a team and you get to play for them, wouldn’t that be something?,” said Penn. “I know I feel it. If the Raiders were in LA where I grew up watching them, I’d be like that too. I’m just happy for him, living a childhood dream, a lot of kids don’t get to live that. That’s just him being him. Marshawn’s a good fun guy. . . I’m happy the fans got to see that excitement. It felt good.”

Yeah, it’s just Marshawn being Marshawn. But this is Oakland Marshawn. It’s a side of him you don’t see anywhere but ‘The Town’ he loves.

“You can see the pure passion that he has,” said Del Rio. “These are his people. These are my people. He played well. I know he was really happy to have his first game go like that.”

Beast Mode earned his nickname in Seattle where he spent six seasons and had the best years of his career, including four Pro Bowls and a Super Bowl ring. Even then, he has never been this happy.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him dance like that,” said Bruce Irvin, who was teammates with Lynch in Seattle. “He never did that in Seattle. I guess cuz he’s at home . . . He is Oakland so, that was a great thing to see.”

Lynch finished with 45 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries while the Raiders spread the carries around to Jalen Richard, DeAndre Washington, and Cordarrelle Patterson.

As much as we’ve made this day all about Lynch, he was more hesitant to take the spotlight. From the very start, he entered with Richard and Washington and let Derek Carr have the final entrance.