Beast Mode of travel hits 10,000 landmark
Lynch runs for 101 yards, improving to 10,003 in his career
Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch ran for 101 yards on 19 carries in Sunday’s tough loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, and now has 10,003 yards in his career. CARSON >> It was hardly the biggest story out of Sunday’s game after Jack Del Rio’s firing, but Marshawn Lynch might’ve had the best day of any player on either team.
Not only did Lynch tie his season high for rushing yards with 101 on 19 carries, he surpassed 10,000 rushing yards for his career. His 11-yard dash late in the fourth quarter gave him 10,000 exactly, then he added three more to finish 2017 with 10,003 career yards on the ground.
Lynch also passed 800 rushing yards this season, triggering a $600,000 bonus for reaching that mark.
Per Pro Football focus, Lynch forced six missed tackles on 21 touches in the Raiders’ 30-10 loss to the Chargers on Sunday afternoon at the StubHub Center.
His 50 missed tackles forced this season rank sixth among running backs in the league. With his sturdy outing against the Chargers’ league-worst run defense, Lynch finished his impressive second half of the season on a high note despite Oakland stumbling to a 6-10 finish.
Beast Mode certainly activated Beast Mode after a weak first half of the season. Upon returning from his suspension in Week 9, Lynch ran for two touchdowns against the Dolphins, his only multi-touchdown game of the season. That began a streak of five rushing touchdowns in five games for No. 24. He didn’t find the end zone in the final three games, but amassed ground totals of 76, 95 and 101 yards.
Lynch finished the season with 891 rushing yards on 207 carries, good for 4.3 yards per carry. He reached pay dirt seven times and caught 20 passes for 151 yards.
After his latest milestone, does Lynch’s Hall of Fame candidacy pick up steam? You be the judge.
• First-year defensive tackle Eddie Vanderdoes tore his left ACL late in Sunday’s game, a source told the Bay Area News Group. The Las Vegas Review-Journal first reported the news.
Vanderdoes went down with just over seven minutes remaining in the game. He stayed down, clutching his left knee. Once he rose, Khalil Mack supported his left side and a Raiders trainer his right. Vanderdoes limped off instead of taking a cart.
After a strong debut against the Titans in Week 1, the 2017 third-round pick struggled this season to assert himself as a force up front. His torn ACL makes it one severe injury for each of Oakland’s top three draft picks this year.
Cornerback Gareon Conley only played two games this season due to shin problems. Safety Obi Melifonwu played only five, first dealing with a leg injury that placed him on injured reserve for the first eight games then hip surgery that forced him to miss the final three games of the season.
Vanderdoes finished the season with no sacks and only 18 tackles.
• Amari Cooper bestsedhis single-season touchdown mark. For the second straight week, Cooper hauled in a deep ball from Derek Carr before coasting through open field into the end zone.
This week, the touchdown came on an 87-yard connection early in the second quarter that tied the game at seven.
It was Cooper’s seventh receiving touchdown this season, topping his previous single-season career high of six touchdown catches set in his 2015 rookie season.
Cooper’s sixth score this year came last Monday night in Philadelphia, also on a long play early in the second quarter. That one went for 63 yards to tie the game at seven, too.
By all accounts, Cooper still had a down year with a handful of games in which he was non-existent and a concussion and left ankle sprain to deal with.
Yet the third-year receiver still finished with 48 catches, 680 yards and seven scores in the Raiders’ disappointing 6-10 campaign.