Marshawn Lynch The “Peacemaker” Gets Suspended

20 Oct, 2017

The Raiders played the second half of Thursday night’s win over the Kansas City Chiefs without Beast Mode. Now, they’re going to spend a week without him.

Marshawn Lynch has been suspended one game by the NFL, league spokesman Michael Signora announced Friday. Lynch was suspended for his actions in Thursday night’s game, in which he made contact with an official, drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and was ejected.

Lynch will appeal the suspension, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported, per a source informed. The suspension will cost Lynch a game check, which equals $110,662 — $79,412 in base salary and $31,250 in per-game bonus — per Rapoport.

Lynch left the sideline between plays as confrontation was occurring on the field and stepped into the fracas, making direct contact with an official as a result. The contact, which Raiders coach Jack Del Rio called “inexcusable,” resulted in the penalty and ejection.

“You made deliberate physical contact with one of our game officials as he was diffusing an active confrontation between players,” NFL VP of football operations Jon Runyan wrote in a letter to Lynch, according to the league’s release. “You were disqualified for your inappropriate and unsportsmanlike actions. Your conduct included pushing the game official and grabbing his jersey … You were not directly involved in the active confrontation that the game official was attempting to diffuse, nor were you a participant in the play that initiated the confrontation. You were the only player from either team who ran from the sideline to midfield to insert himself into a situation in which he was not directly involved.”

Lynch appeared to take the field in search of Kansas City’s Marcus Peters with peacemaking as his intention when he came in contact with the official.

“I know Marshawn feels bad, I’ve talked to him,” Raiders offensive tackle Donald Penn told NFL Network’s Patrick Claybon on Friday. “The thing is that great win is going to get overshadowed by this little incident.

“He’s going to learn from it … to be honest with you, I don’t think Marshawn knew that was a ref until it was too late. He just thought it was another player, just trying to get them all off and get things separated. He’s going to learn from it, man, we’re going to move on. They’re all good friends. I’m just sad Marshawn wasn’t able to finish the game because I know how much Oakland means to him and how much that win means to him.”

Lynch will be eligible to return to Oakland’s active roster on Oct. 30, the day after the Raiders’ Week 8 game against the Buffalo Bills.

NFL.com

Image Darren Rovell twitter

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