In the second quarter of the Raiders’ Thursday Night Football game against the Chiefs, Oakland quarterback Derek Carr took a late hit from Kansas City cornerback Marcus Peters, inciting a bit of a scuffle between players on the two teams.
Marshawn Lynch, who was not on the field for the play, came sprinting from the sidelines to participate in the fracas and was not going to let anyone get in his way. Not even the one person on the field a player is least allowed to go after: the referee.
Lynch shoved the ref in a way that is pretty blatantly inappropriate. Although it looks at first glance as if he was just angry at the official, it becomes clear from a longer cut that he was attempting to calm Peters, his friend and fellow Oakland native. Regardless, he was rightfully ejected from the game.
Here’s another shot, in which you can see Lynch’s grab and push, as well as his furious sprint across the field to engage in the shoving match.
And here’s Marshawn heading to the locker room.
Marshawn Lynch has been ejected from the game. Here's Beast mode walking back to the locker room. pic.twitter.com/Nk60fPIQ09
— Henry Wofford (@HWoffordSports) October 20, 2017
Lynch will probably be disciplined further for shoving the referee, and he will deserve it because players can’t go laying hands on officials like that. But before we paint him as too much of a bad guy here, it’s probably good to remember that he was not trying to hurt anyone but was instead, in an odd way, attempting to keep the peace.