Marshawn Lynch says he was expecting the ball at end of Super Bowl

Marshawn Lynch offered an extremely professional quote after his Seahawks lost the Super Bowl when asked about not getting the ball inside the 1-yard line, saying that football is a team sport. In recent comments to a Turkish TV station, Lynch admitted he was expecting to get the ball.

Lynch was in Turkey for a Football Without Barriers program and joined NTV Spor where along with NFL players Lynch, DeAngelo Williams and Gary Barnidge, he was asked questions by Ismail Senol. One of the questions was about Seattle’s final offensive play, which led to an interception by Malcolm Butler, sealing the game for the Patriots.

“To be honest with you, I would be lying if I didn’t tell you that I was expecting the ball,” Lynch said via Yahoo Sports. “Yes, I was expecting the ball. But in life, these things happen. Like I told a reporter after the game, it’s a team sport.

“I had no problem with the decision of the playcalling. I mean, you know … I think it was more of a … how do I say this? When you look at me, and you let me run that ball in … I am the face of the nation. You know, MVP of the Super Bowl … that’s pretty much the face of the nation at that point of time. I don’t know what went into that call. I mean, maybe it was a good thing that I didn’t get the ball. I mean, you know, it cost us the Super Bowl. I mean, I have full … I have full confidence in my teammates to execute that plan because we’ve done it so many more times. But would I love to had the ball in? Yes, I would have.

“But the game is over, and I am in Turkey.”

In part of those comments, there is a hint from Lynch that he buys into the conspiracy theory that the Seahawks chose to throw the ball because they did not want their controversial running back to be the hero of the game. We never bought into that theory because it just didn’t make sense that someone would intentionally call a bad play to keep one player from being the hero. That just didn’t make sense for a Super Bowl situation. But it sounds like Lynch has some suspicion.

Lynch is said to be considering retirement, but if he decides to return, the Seahawks have a big-money offer on the table for him.