PHOENIX — LeGarrette Blount is 6 feet tall and weighs 250 pounds. He’s been the New England Patriots’ lead back in the playoffs, with 149 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

Marshawn Lynch is 5-11, 215 pounds. He is the Seattle Seahawks’ leading back – one of the best in the NFL, in fact.

They both like to bull over would-be tacklers and their breakaway speed is deceptive. Both are well-liked in the locker room and have the support of their coaches.

But the difference between the two was never more evident than in Tuesday’s Media Day at the U.S. Airways Center.

Blount spoke for the allotted hour given to the Patriots, his topics ranging from Tom Brady to his father’s influence and how he styled his hair for this day.

He welcomed the bombardment of questions, some serious, many silly.

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“I’m pretty sure a lot of guys don’t like it but I embrace it,” he said of Media Day. “I think it’s fun, I think it’s a blast. I see guys go through it every year and I love it.”

Lynch? Not so much, it seems. He spoke for about five minutes, responding to each of the approximately 20 questions with the same non-answer.

And that’s cool.

Lynch doesn’t like to talk to the media. We know that. Heck, he’s been fined for not talking to the media.

And it’s too bad he doesn’t talk because he probably has a lot of interesting things to say. I mean, I’d like to know why he likes Skittles so much.

Of course, we do know about Lynch on the football field. They don’t call him Beastmode for nothing. He rushed for 1,306 yards and 13 touchdowns in the regular season. In the playoffs he’s added another 216 yards and one touchdown.

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But when it comes to the media, Lynch shuts down.

After he was led through a media throng that was as big as any other Tuesday, Lynch sat at his small podium and said, “Hey I’m just here so I don’t get fined. So if I have to sit here, ask me all the questions you all want to. I’m going to answer with the same answer.”

Why are you here?

“I’m here so I won’t get fined.”

And on it went. At least until the alarm went off on his phone and he said, “Time.” Then walked out, stage left.

It was as advertised, and actually a little funny.

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His coach, Pete Carroll, said the Seahawks understand why Lynch does what he does.

“He is a very unique individual. We understand Marshawn and we support him every way that we can,” said Carroll in an earlier press conference. “He’s got his own way of looking at things and he’s also a very private person, too. That’s why the media thing is as it is.”

Carroll also said Lynch is incredibly giving and loyal. “One of the great teammates that you can want on a team because of the way he takes care and looks after people.”

Blount has never been overly talkative. But when he does say something, it’s usually to the point.

Asked several times about Seattle’s top-ranked defense, Blount said – not once, but twice – “They’re not immortal. They can be beat.”

But there are some things he won’t talk about, like his 11-game stint with Pittsburgh this year. Blount, of course, played for the Patriots in 2013 and was a tremendous asset.

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But he signed with Pittsburgh in the offseason. Instead of being the lead back, he was a backup to Le’Veon Bell. Blount was released in mid-November after leaving a game early.

A couple of days later the Patriots signed him.

Blount was asked about Pittsburgh several times Tuesday. He ignored the questions at first, then answered a few. He said he made some good friends there and still keeps in touch.

“Things didn’t work out as planned so we just had to part ways, and I ended up here,” he said. “And now I’m about to play in the Super Bowl.

“They welcomed me with open arms,” Blount said of the Patriots. “It’s like a brotherhood, a family to me. That’s a big part of why I went (back).”

The Patriots were more than willing to bring him back. They had lost their lead running back, Stevan Ridley, to a knee injury. Ridley had been replaced by Jonas Gray, who rushed for 201 yards and four touchdowns against Indianapolis on Nov. 16. A couple of days later, Gray’s alarm clock didn’t work properly and he was late for practice. Not good. Into the doghouse he went … and Blount was signed a day later.

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Ivan Fears, the Patriots’ running backs coach, loves having Blount back. “He’s a 250-pound guy with speed,” said Fears. “He’s pretty unique.”

Beyond that, said Fears, “I think he’s grown. He’s definitely gotten a lot better. He’s one of those guys who loves every day. He loves life, he loves what he’s doing. He loves being around the office, in meeting rooms, in the locker room. He’s a high-energy guy who’s full of life. And I think he can be even better.”

Blount has always been trying to get better.

Asked what got him into football, he said, “My father played.”

His father, Gary, led his high school – and later LeGarrette’s – to a state runner-up finish in Florida. LeGarrette said his dad played some small college ball.

“Growing up, all I heard, Gary Blount this, Gary Blount that, ‘You ain’t never going to be as good as him,’ ” said LeGarrette Blount. “After I got in the (NFL), I went back home and said, ‘Who’s the greatest football player in the family now?’ ”

Well? “He still says him,” said Blount, 28, who also said he owes his dad a lot.

“I learned everything from him, from my football stance to how I hold the football, to catching the ball,” he said. “Everything I’ve learned about football all the way till I got to the collegiate level and the NFL, I learned from him.”

It would have been nice to hear something like that from Lynch.


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