5 Oakland Raiders to watch vs. Los Angeles Chargers in Week 17
By John Buhler
Marshawn Lynch
It could absolutely happen. Marshawn Lynch needs 98 yards to rush for over 10,000 in his storied NFL career. Though he won’t rush for 1,000 in 2017, he should be able to approach 900 in his final game of the 2017 campaign. It’s not like the Chargers have an elite run defense anyway.
Los Angeles’ strength as a defense lies in its pass-rushing ability and its strong coverage in the secondary. In essence, you can run the ball on Los Angeles. It’s not easy, but totally doable. What makes Lynch such a likely candidate to go over 100 in this game and 10,000 in his career is that he is a volume runner that will break down this Chargers’ front-seven.
Even if the game is out of reach, it might be a cool milestone that the Raiders might want to Lynch break surely in front of a ton of Raiders fans in the StubHub Center crowd. Lynch rushed for 95 yards against an elite Eagles defense in Week 16. Look for him to leave no stone unturned in his last game of the season.
Lynch might be under contract in 2018, but he could conceivably ride off into the sunset as a 10,000-yard rusher, a multi-time Pro Bowler and a Super Bowl champion. That could be enough to make him Canton bound. Raider Nation needs to pay close attention to his rushing totals in this game. Here’s to Beast Mode getting over 100 on Sunday afternoon versus the Chargers!