Hit-and-run could be disastrous for Lynch, Bills

By Connor Byrne  |   Monday, June 02, 2008  |  Comments( 58 )

Buffalo Bills
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Prior to this past weekend, starting running back was one area the Buffalo Bills didn't need to worry about entering the summer. Marshawn Lynch, going into Year 2 of his NFL career after a terrific rookie campaign in which he ran for 1,100-plus yards and seven touchdowns, was ideally going to stay healthy for all 16 regular-season games (he played 13 in 2007) and help power the Bills into the playoffs. But after a weekend off-field incident involving Lynch, nothing should be viewed as certain anymore regarding Lynch's status for the 2008 season.

At approximately 3:30 a.m. Saturday, Lynch's Porsche SUV struck and mildly injured a woman at the corner of Delaware and Chippewa Streets in Buffalo, but the driver fled the scene immediately after hitting the pedestrian. It's unclear as of now whether the 22-year-old Lynch was behind the wheel. However, given that there are surveillance cameras in the vicinity of where the accident took place, it will probably be found out eventually by the Buffalo Police Department whether it was Lynch driving. If he was, it could spell disaster for both him and the Bills.

By New York State law, Lynch might be in relatively serious trouble.

"Leaving the scene of an accident resulting in personal injury without reporting it would become a Class A misdemeanor punishable with up to a year in jail and a fine of $500 to $1,000," according to state Assemblyman Andrew P. Raia.

Worst-case scenario, then, Lynch could perhaps sit out in excess of an entire season because of a prison sentence, not to mention the possibility of an NFL-mandated suspension piled on top of the state's punishment. That would obviously result in more missed time, which could ultimately end his Bills career. (That may sound like an exaggeration on the surface, but it's not often a pro athlete goes to prison for a prolonged period of time and ends up back in the league he's a member of, let alone with the same team.)

What the franchise needs to hope for now is that it was a friend of Lynch's, not the running back, who was driving his Porsche. If that's the case, his friend would of course be the one facing major problems. Currently, only Lynch knows for certain whether he's about to face the legal battle of his life; if he is, odds are good that he could miss time this season as a result of either punishment from New York or the league (or both), which would absolutely hamper Buffalo's bid to break its eight-year playoff drought.

Considering Lynch's current dilemma, the three runners behind him on the depth chart -- Fred Jackson, Dwayne Wright and Xavier Omon -- had better be ready to pick up the former University of California star's slack, or 2008 could be another terrible season for a Bills offense that has been the league's 30th-ranked unit for two years running.

Thanks to an out-of-the-blue hit-and-run during the final weekend of May, what was supposed to be a summer of anticipation and excitement for the Bills and their fans could realistically be filled with angst and worriment instead. Amazing how quickly optimism can turn to pessimism, isn't it?

*E-mail: cbyrne@realfootball365.com
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