Marshawn Lynch and C.J. Spiller met for the first time on Sunday (a 50-17 Seattle win), but their careers will forever be linked.
When Buffalo sent Marshawn Lynch to Seattle in 2010 for a pair of draft picks, it was seen as the latest in a series of blunders during the Marv Levy-as-G.M. experiment.
The Bills had selected C.J. Spiller with the 9th pick in that fall’s draft, and then essentially flipped Lynch for the 122nd selection the following year. It was viewed as a desperate move by an 85-year-old general manager whose time had long since past.
Compounding matters was that when Buffalo took Spiller, they became the only team in the last decade to draft a running back in the first round three different times. They had just rid themselves of Willis McGahee and, even after sending Lynch packing, had two capable running backs on the roster in Fred Jackson and Anthony Thomas.
Lynch, of course, has been rejuvenated in the Emerald City. He famously ran the Seahawks to an unlikely playoff win against New Orleans in January 2011 and has been the most productive running back in football over the last year and a half. After Sunday’s game, Lynch had rushed for 1,379 yards this season, good for second in the NFL (behind the otherworldly Adrian Peterson), and 10 touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Spiller has become Buffalo’s most explosive – and perhaps best – offensive player. He’s toted the ball 161 times for 1,047 yards this year, and his 6.6 yards-per-carry clip will be the highest average for a 1,000-yard rusher since 1934 if he continues at his current pace.
Spiller has performed so well that questions surrounding Chan Gailey’s future stem just as much from his underutilization of Spiller as his team’s 5-9 record. This year, Spiller has carried the ball less than 10 times in six separate games and received more than 20 handoffs only once.
Limiting Spiller’s totals had been the presence of Fred Jackson, the 31-year-old Coe College alumnus who was an MVP candidate last season before being sidelined with a broken leg in Week 11. Prior to being placed on injured reserve, Jackson’s 1,376 yards from scrimmage was second in the league. In Jackson’s absence, Spiller totaled 563 yards in the last five games, fifth most in the AFC and seventh in the league.
It’s been a different story this year. While Jackson has remained productive (115/437/3), Spiller has made a case to be included among the league’s top five backs. With Jackson back on the shelf with a knee injury, Spiller has another opportunity to shine. He passed his first test, running for 103 yards and a touchdown Sunday despite the Bills having to play catchup from the outset.
Coupling sprinter speed with the balance of a gymnast, Spiller is a nightmare to tackle. In a recent interview with The Buffalo News, Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson said that he’s excited to see Spiller in a more of a feature back role.
“He’s not a big guy, but he finds that hole,” Dickerson said. “He’s extremely fast and makes quick decisions and can make a guy miss. That’s what makes him so dangerous. It happens in a split second. For a defender, once you start going one way and a guy like him can cut and accelerate, it poses a problem.”
Curtis Martin added, “There are certain running backs, when you have played the position, you can just look at and tell they have that ‘it’ factor, and he does.”
