Bills’ RB Lynch back on practice field, one day after 3-game NFL suspension appeal denied

Bills’ RB Lynch prepares for upcoming suspension

PITTSFORD, N.Y. — A day after the NFL denied his appeal of a 3-game suspension, Buffalo Bills running back Marshawn Lynch said he was ready to assume a new, temporary role on the team.

“I’m going to be the biggest cheerleader Buffalo has seen in a while,” Lynch said after training camp practice at St. John Fisher College on Tuesday night.

Lynch, suspended for violating the league’s personal conduct policy after being arrested on a gun charge in February, will be rooting for reserves Fred Jackson and Dominic Rhodes to carry the load in his absence, beginning with the Bills’ regular-season opener on Sept. 14 in a Monday night game at New England.

A two-time 1,000-yard rusher and Pro Bowl participant last season, Lynch said he wasn’t surprised that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell ruled against his appeal.

“If he hadn’t, that would have been great,” he said. “But since it’s still on, I’m going to go from there.”

Lynch can continue practicing with the Bills and play in their five preseason games, starting Sunday with the Hall of Fame game against the Tennessee Titans in Canton, Ohio.

“So I’m still going to show up every day, give my 100 percent and ride my boys,” he said. His suspension begins Sept. 5 and will last until Sept. 28, the day after Buffalo plays the New Orleans Saints.

“It’s a hard thing sitting out when you’re not hurt,” Lynch said. “It gives you the feeling that you messed up. That ain’t a position I want to be in.”

Lynch pleaded guilty in March to a misdemeanor gun charge in Los Angeles. He was sentenced to 80 hours of community service and three years’ probation.

The suspension resulted from the player’s arrest in Culver City, Calif., on Feb. 11, when police searched a parked car Lynch was in and found a 9mm semiautomatic handgun in a backpack in the trunk. Police also found four marijuana cigarettes in the car, but no drug charges were filed.

It was Lynch’s second run-in with the law following a hit-and run-accident in Buffalo in May 2008. He pleaded guilty to a traffic violation and admitted to driving off after striking a female pedestrian with his car near Buffalo’s downtown bar district.