Marshawn Lynch reluctantly meets with the media
Jan 29, 2014, 10:49 AM | Updated: 9:46 pm
By Brady Henderson
JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Wednesday was Day 2 of Marshawn Lynch Watch as reporters and cameramen crowded around the Seahawks running back to hear what he wouldn’t say.
 Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch met with the media Wednesday, albeit reluctantly. “I’m just here so I won’t get fined, boss,” he said. (AP) |
And in one of his lengthier responses during the interview session, Lynch made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t speaking on his own volition.
“I don’t know,” he said when asked how he felt about all the attention he was receiving this week. “I really ain’t got too much to say, boss. I really don’t. I mean, I appreciate it, but I don’t get it. I’m just here so I won’t get fined, boss. That’s the only reason why I’m here.”
Lynch’s reluctance to speak with the media is nothing new, of course, but it’s become a national story during Super Bowl week after his brief appearance at media day Tuesday. According to the website ProFootballTalk.com, the Pro Football Writers of America issued a statement saying it was “extremely disappointed” by the lack of access to Lynch and that several of the group’s members were “appalled” by the way he conducted himself.
It was even the first question posed to Seahawks coach Pete Carroll when he met with the media Wednesday, a national reporter asking if Lynch set a bad precedent with his limited participation at media day.
“We have obligations that we try to fulfill the best we can. I don’t know how we could look at this any other way – that not everybody’s the same,” Carroll said. “And in our program we understand that to a point where we have made the statement that we celebrate the individuality and the uniqueness of our guys. And I think that we would like to comply and do everything we can to the best of our ability, but we are who we are.”
During the roughly 7 minutes he spoke with the media Wednesday, Lynch gave typically terse answers and at one point expressed his disagreement with his media obligations. Michael Robinson, Lynch’s close friend and lead blocker, lightened the mood by holding a microphone and posing as a reporter. Later, he fielded questions on Lynch’s behalf, ending each response by referring to the questioner as “boss” the way Lynch does.
Seahawks players are expected to be available to the media Thursday for the last time before the Super Bowl.
Follow Brady Henderson on Twitter @BradyHenderson.
