Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Saturday, August 5, 2017
NFL
Recovered from broken leg, Lockett practices for Seahawks
Seattle
Sea-
hawks’
wide
receiver
Tyler
Lockett
reaches
to catch
a ball
during
NFL
football
training
camp in
Friday,
Aug. 4,
2017, in
Renton,
Wash.
By TIM BOOTH
AP Sports Writer
RENTON, Wash. — Seattle
Seahawks
wide
receiver
Tyler Lockett’s memories of
Christmas 2016 are fuzzy, the
result of major surgery and
pain medication.
“I
don’t
remember
Christmas. I probably opened
one present and I was halfway
asleep,” Lockett said.
The speedy, undersized
pass catcher for the Seahawks
returned to practice Friday for
the first time since December
when he broke both bones in
his lower right leg. Lockett
was activated off the physically
unable to perform list, putting
behind him the memories of a
forgettable Christmas spent in a
hospital room recovering from
surgery.
Lockett’s work was limited.
He did individual drills and
fielded punts on special teams
— where he was a Pro Bowl
selection as a returner in 2015
as a rookie. Basic steps, yes,
but progress toward the expec-
tation that he will be ready for
the start of the regular season.
“As soon as they let me go
today I didn’t know what to do
so I was just running around,
AP Photo/
Elaine Thomp-
son
having fun, being a little kid
again,” Lockett said.
Lockett’s recovery has
been challenging and lengthy.
Lockett broke both bones in
his lower leg after defensive
back Brandon Williams landed
on him awkwardly during a
Christmas Eve loss to Arizona.
His surgery started that night
and went into Christmas
morning.
“I opened one present.
Don’t even know what it is.
Can’t remember what it was. It
was probably clothes,” Lockett
said.
Lockett doesn’t know how
long he was in the hospital
recovering from surgery. He
was in a wheelchair for a time
and also had to use crutches.
Lockett said the hardest part
was spending the majority
of the offseason in Seattle
constantly doing rehabilitation.
He believed three months
ago that he was ready to start
running and making football
moves again, but understood
the precautions being taken by
the Seahawks to make sure he
was fully ready to practice.
Despite all those obstacles,
Lockett said he wouldn’t ask
for a different situation.
“If it could happen again I
Former St.
Louis Rams
and Arizona
Cardinals
quarterback
Kurt Warner,
left, greets
Cardinals
wide receiver
Larry Fitzger-
ald before the
Pro Football
Hall of Fame
NFL presea-
son game in
Canton, Ohio,
Thursday,
Aug. 3, 2017.
Warner is to
be inducted
into the Hall
of Fame later
this month.
Lynch a big hit with Raiders so far
By JANIE MCCAULEY
Associated Press
NAPA, Calif. — Marshawn
Lynch plowed through the line,
dreadlocks swaying on a rare cool
summer morning in Napa then
juggled the football to the delight
of hundreds cheering from nearby
bleachers.
They raised phone cameras to
capture the self-proclaimed Money-
Lynch’s every move. A film crew
followed, too.
It’s Marshawn Mania in wine
country. And Lynch sure seems to be
loving the attention of his un-retire-
ment, back in that familiar No. 24
jersey, just different colors now that
he’s with his hometown team.
Lynch joined the Oakland
Raiders on a restructured two-year
deal following an April trade
from Seattle, where he had retired
following the 2015 season. Now he
has a chance to keep Derek Carr and
Co. contending for an AFC West
title and a shot at the Super Bowl.
“He’s going to run through some
people’s faces, I think that’s what
he’s going to do,” Carr said. “He’s
going to protect the quarterback. ...
He’s good at that. Very physical.
That part of the game is fun to him.
I tend to like to slide or go over
people, and he likes to go through
them, so I don’t have to do it.”
The Raiders returned to the
playoffs for the first time in 14 years
then lost in the wild card game at
Houston last season without Carr,
who went down with a broken right
fibula Dec. 24 against Denver as
Oakland missed out on a division
title.
Lynch has brought some new
life to an already deep and
talented team.
“Let’s
go,
Beast
Mode!” on man yelled as
Lynch jogged by between
periods.
There’s no question
Lynch has boosted the
morale of a stung fan
base dreading the Raiders’
move to Las Vegas in three Lynch
years.
Alex King, a 23-year-old lifelong
Raiders fan from Salinas, sported his
Lynch jersey with a leather vest over
it and spiked leather cuff bracelets
Friday in a front-row seat off the
practice field.
“I really like that he’s doing a real
good thing for his town,” King said.
“He’s always been good for the city,
he has never been a ghost and left
his city. For him to come back to the
team he’s always wanted to play for,
it’s really good for the city and the
team itself.”
Lynch has been even more
visible in Oakland than ever. He
saved a soul food restaurant, led a
bike ride through town in May and
offered tickets to a water park for
2,000 kids.
On the field, Oakland has a
healthy quarterback and Lynch
eager to take the ball and run.
The 31-year-old running back
has quickly become a training camp
phenomenon and big-personality
bright spot for that “Just Win,
Baby!” fan base.
“When I think of Marshawn, I
think of passion because he’s a very
passionate player,” coach Jack Del
Rio said. “I think of toughness and
physicality. I think he brings those
things to our football team. He’s
been a terrific teammate,
been great from Day 1.
Everything has been really
outstanding with him and
him joining us and fitting
in with our guys. I think
they love him. We love
having him, so it’s great.
He’s healthy and in good
shape and ready to have a
good year for us.”
Lynch carried for at
least 10 touchdowns every year
from 2011 to 2014, including a
career-best 13 during the ‘14 season
to help lead the Seattle Seahawks to
a Super Bowl title. Lynch’s 51 TDs
rushing are the most in the NFL
since 2011 even though he played
just seven games in 2015 and was
retired last season.
The Raiders can’t wait to see him
in pads and when it all counts.
“He’s a fun guy to be around all
the time. He’s a great teammate.
He’s fun in meetings. He’s fun in the
meal room,” offensive coordinator
Todd Downing said. “It’s certainly
nice to see him out there and running
around and moving the way he is.
We’re really pleased with where
he’s at.”
Lynch already said the reason
he even considered coming out of
retirement was to give something
back to Oakland before the Raiders
depart for Sin City in 2020.
“It’s going to be good for all of
us. It’ll be especially nice for those
that know Marshawn in a personal
way that followed him throughout
his career, having played right there
in Cal and grown up in the Bay
Area,” Del Rio said. “It’s awesome,
so I’m sure it will be special for a lot
of people.”
HALL OF FAME: Andersen to become just
second place kicker to be enshrined
The 2017
Class of the
Pro Foot-
ball Hall of
Fame pose
during the
Enshrinee’s
Gold Jacket
Dinner,
Friday, Aug.
4, 2017, in
Canton,
Ohio.
Continued from 1B
Davis pushed for more Broncos
in the hall. From the two Denver
teams he helped win NFL titles in
1997 and ‘98, only John Elway and
Shannon Sharpe also are in.
“Steve Atwater, Jason Elam,
Rod Smith, (owner) Pat Bowlen,”
he said, reeling off the names.
“Those are ones I played with and
I certainly think they will all be in.”
Andersen joins Jan Stenerud
as the enshrined kickers; Ray Guy
is the only pure punter in the hall.
Although Andersen is the NFL’s
scoring leader and kicked for 25
seasons, it took him eight years of
eligibility before getting in.
Considering the role kickers
play, especially in today’s game, he
believes that trend will change.
“With my election to the Hall of
Fame and the level of skill today,
it moves the conversation along,”
Andersen said. “I would argue that,
besides the quarterback position,
kickers affect the outcome of games
more than anyone.
“There are a lot of guys I feel
should be looked at more seri-
ously,” he added, mentioning not
only kickers such as Gary Anderson
and the still-active Adam Vinatieri,
but special teamer Steve Tasker and
punter Sean Landetta. “It’s a tight
squeeze.
“It feels good to be on the other
side, and now it’s my obligation to
enhance their chances. I hope it’s
not another 21 years where no one
Bob Rossiter/The
Canton Repository
via AP
gets in.”
Andersen doesn’t expect a
special teams player to get in yearly,
instead targeting “every three to
five years.” Easley, selected by the
seniors committee, is in more of a
rush to see safeties inducted.
“We set the tone on defense,” the
former hard-hitting Seahawks star
said. “We’re going to get a lot of
these guys in the hall. Between John
Lynch, Atwater, Brian Dawkins,
Darren Woodson — any of those
four are fine, or all of them.
“I prefer all of them,” he added
with a laugh, calling for a “megasa-
fety class.”
Beyond that quartet — Lynch has
been a frequent finalist in the voting
— Easley recognized another group
that soon will be eligible.
“We’ve got a lot of guys coming
behind them, you know, Ed Reed,
Troy Polamalu,” Easley said. “We
got some guys who (annually) will
be genuine contenders.”
Davis’ election was delayed by
questions about such a short career:
Davis played seven NFL seasons,
the last two wrecked by injuries.
But the other five were spectacular.
His comparison, he noted, is Gale
Sayers, who also had a mercurial
career but was a first-ballot entry.
That led to more campaigning by
Davis.
“Now the precedent is reset,” he
said. “It should not be how long you
played. What it should be based on
is how well you played in the NFL.”
Asked about the exclusivity of
any hall of fame, Davis said: “That’s
what makes it special, everyone
can’t get in.”
Then he chuckled.
“But when you’re on the other
side, you say, ‘Can’t they open the
floodgates and unplug the hole and
let guys in?’”
probably would let it happen.
I wouldn’t take back what
happened. I really learned a lot
about life and I really learned
a lot that helped me grow
throughout this entire process,”
Lockett said.
If Lockett is fully healthy
by the Sept. 10 opener against
Green Bay, some of the ques-
tions facing the Seahawks
will be answered. Lockett is
Seattle’s primary kickoff and
punt returner. By the time he
broke his leg, Lockett had
also emerged as Seattle’s No.
2 receiver after being slowed
early in the 2016 season by a
sprained knee. Lockett finished
last season with only 41 recep-
tions but 16 of those came in
the three games preceding his
injury.
“To see him come back
the way that he has and really
attack the offseason and the
rehab that he needed to do,
and to see him back out here
at training camp is a special
thing,” offensive coordinator
Darrell Bevell said. “Right
away I remember going to visit
him at the hospital and he was
really positive and he knew he
was going to get back and what
he was going to do and attack
the rehab and he’s done it.”
AP Photo/Ron
Schwane
WARNER:
Continued from 1B
couldn’t write the history of
professional football without
me,” Warner said in an interview
with The Associated Press. “I’m
very honored and humbled that
anybody — but that a collective
group of people — felt that way.”
In between St. Louis and
Arizona was a brief stop with
the New York Giants, where his
style didn’t really fit the system
and he was benched in favor of
rookie Eli Manning.
Warner was looking for
work after that and wound up in
Arizona with a franchise with a
history of failure.
But in 2008, he took the
Cardinals on an unexpected run
to the Super Bowl and a narrow
loss to Pittsburgh.
In that run, the combination
of Warner to a young Larry Fitz-
gerald was the greatest passing
duo in any single postseason.
“You could see the two-time
MVP, Super Bowl champion,
Super Bowl MVP, you’re kind
of just in awe,” Fitzgerald said.
“And then you get to know him
as a man, you see how humble
he was and how down to earth,
approachable, family oriented,
just a wonderful teammate. You
just gained more respect for the
kind of person he was. Then how
he pushed me to get better, how
to play this game.”
Warner knows it’s an unusual
resume.
“I didn’t get the opportunities
everybody else did,” he said.
“Even in the middle of my career
I had some crazy things happen
where some of those opportuni-
ties were taken away from me.
But when I played the game,
when I stepped between those
lines, I took advantage of every
opportunity.
“And I think I played this
game the right way and as well
as anybody that’s ever played it.”
He looks at his long climb
to the NFL as a succession of
success stories.
“I sat on the bench for four
years in college (Northern
Iowa), but the one year I played
I was player of the year in my
conference,” he said. “Then
I went to Arena Football. I
played three years. I was in the
championship game twice and
was voted the best quarterback
in Arena Football during my
time there. I went to Europe for
a year, was the best quarterback
statistically in the one year that I
played there.”
In other words, all he needed
was a chance.
Torry Holt was a rookie wide
receiver for the Rams when
Warner became the starter.
“When things happened to
Trent and Trent went down,”
Holt said,”Kurt’s number was
called and he was ready. He
came in and we never skipped a
beat. With the way he prepped,
his attention to detail and his
love and passion for football
and for quarterbacking was dead
on.”
In his first year as an NFL
starter, Warner led the Rams to
the Super Bowl, finishing with a
dramatic win over Tennessee in
an MVP performance.
St. Louis made it to the Super
Bowl again in the 2001 season,
but lost to New England.
Arizona was long considered
a laughingstock of ineptitude.
But not with Warner at the
controls.
In 2008, there were some
ugly losses but enough wins to
take the NFL West title at 9-7.
Some considered the Cardinals
the worst playoff team in league
history.
But with the Warner-to-
Fitzgerald connection working
magic, Arizona went on a run
that didn’t end until the close
Super Bowl loss to Pittsburgh.
Warner’s last game at home
came in a playoff contest against
Green Bay in the 2009 season.
The Cardinals won 51-45 in
overtime. Warner had more
touchdown passes (five) than
he did incompletions (four). He
said it may have been the best
he’s ever played.
He was brutally beaten down
in his final game at New Orleans.
But he’d already decided it was
time to go.
Now he has an NFL Network
gig and lots of time to devote
to his family and his Christian
faith.
Warner and his wife Brenda
operate the First Things First
Foundation, using their values
as a guide for helping people in
need.
“I had plenty of lousy football
games, but I don’t feel there’s
any blemishes on the character,’”
he said. “When it’s all said and
done at the end of the day, that
is by far the thing that I’m most
proud of.”