When Hall of Fame running back John Riggins wasn’t promoting a Super Bowl contest to benefit military veterans and their families this week, or cracking jokes about running with a deflated football, he was noticing something about the Seahawks’ Marshawn Lynch that reminded him of himself.
“He’s an excellent runner, there’s no doubt about that,’’ Riggins said Thursday in Washington, where he and former Super Bowl-winning teammate Joe Theismann were signing autographs on behalf of PenFed Credit Union’s Super Bowl contest.
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“And it’s interesting, too,’’ Riggins continued, speaking of Lynch, “because, what year is he? Is it his 10th? He played in Buffalo for a few years. It'll be interesting to see if he keeps it up, how long he can.’’
Lynch is finishing his ninth season, the first three-and-a-half with the Bills. He turns 29 in April. He was fourth in rushing this season with 1,306 yards (and leads all postseason rushers with 216 in two games). Of the 13 1,000-yard rushers this season, three are older: Frank Gore, Justin Forsett and Matt Forte. Only Gore, who entered the league two years before Lynch, has more carries than Lynch's 2,033.
Lynch is fifth among active rushers in career carries and fourth in yards. His yardage in 2014 was the second-highest of his career, and his touchdown total of 13 was a career high.
Riggins’ best year of 1,347 yards — 1983, in a more run-first era, and the year Washington went to its second straight Super Bowl — came when he was 34. He retired two years later at 36.
Their styles were similar: extremely physical, with great speed for their size and no desire to avoid contact. In an era where the running game is de-emphasized yet running backs are either beaten down or flushed out by teams soon after their 30th birthdays, if not before, could Lynch be even more of a throwback than he is?
“I don’t know. Nowadays, I would think it’s rare — well, back then it was pretty rare, too,’’ Riggins said. “But it would be interesting if he ends up being one of those guys. It doesn’t seem like he’s slowing down, does it seem to you?’’
Lynch’s longevity could benefit from the same thing Riggins’ did, he said: “What helps, too, is when you play on a team that has success, and they have that.’’
It’s a mild surprise that he’s able to do that with the prevalent offensive mindset in place, he said, adding that Lynch and the Seahawks are a reminder that the running game doesn’t have to be abandoned for an aerial show to win.
“It’s like an everybody-reinventing-the-wheel type of deal,’’ Riggins said. “You get into these trends, everybody moves away from it, then everybody reinvents it and it becomes very popular and successful. But clearly it’s a passing league now, and it just keeps heading in that direction, probably for a lot of reasons.’’
Riggins did offer his thoughts about deflated footballs — not a terribly straight-faced one, as Theismann did at the same event. He was asked whether running backs care about the inflation of the ball, or know the difference under any circumstances.
“You know, when you get the football behind the line of scrimmage, you ain’t got time to worry about how much air is in the ball.,’’ he said. Then, grinning, he added, “The other thing I’ll argue — everybody in here, 95 percent of the people in here, are driving around with tires that are under-inflated by quite a bit. It starts at home. Pump up your own tires before you complain about the other guy and his tires.’’
