By Matt Schneidman

East Bay Times

OAKLAND — In the bowels of the Coliseum shortly before kickoff, Marshawn Lynch approached the man below him on the depth chart.

All 11 offensive starters were set to be introduced individually over the PA system. No. 24 was slated to emerge from the tunnel second-to-last, before only quarterback Derek Carr. It was Lynch’s chance to soak in a defeaning roar before the home opener, the beloved Oakland native returning home donning silver and black.

Yet Lynch, unlike the other 10 offensive starters, didn’t emerge from the tunnel alone. Backup running back Jalen Richard stood to his right and third-stringer DeAndre Washington to his left.

“We were getting ready to go out and he was like, ‘You and D-Wash, I want y’all to come out with me,’ ” Richard said. “I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s cool if they say it’s cool.’ He was like, ‘Man, it don’t matter what they say. Y’all boys coming out with me.’ “

On a day when it was all about the homecoming, Lynch didn’t want it to be — at least before the game.

“They’re my (expletive),” Lynch said after the game when asked why he brought his fellow running backs with him. His numbers didn’t exactly match the hype before his home debut — 45 yards on 12 carries and one reception for four yards — even though he found the end zone for the first time this season.

The Raiders (2-0) annihilated the lowly Jets, 45-20, and others had better numbers. Carr completed over 82 percent of his passes and threw three touchdowns to Michael Crabtree. Richard and receiver Cordarrelle Patterson both reeled off lengthy touchdown runs. Yet with an extravagant dance plastered on the Jumbotron in the fourth quarter that was vintage Beast Mode, the day ended exactly how it was meant to.

All about Marshawn Lynch.

“I was about to jump in there with him to be honest with you, but I was like, ‘Man I want to let Marshawn have his light because that’s him,’ ” left tackle Donald Penn said. “I know this is his town.”

After a season-opener in which Lynch failed to score, and with the Raiders on the road in Weeks 3 and 4, there was no better time for No. 24 to break the plane than in front of his hometown on Sunday.

On one sequence against the Titans last week, Carr threw three straight incompletions to Amari Cooper from the 2-yard line after Lynch converted a 4th-and-1 from the 3. The first time Oakland reached the doorstep against New York, Lynch lined up in the backfield. Carr yelled “Seattle” (get it?) and connected with Crabtree in the back-left corner of the end zone for a touchdown. Still no dice for Lynch.

It wasn’t until 1:29 remained in the first half that Lynch found the end zone. Two unsuccessful tries to score from inside the 5-yard line proceeded the one that worked, but Lynch took a halfback draw right up the gut to put Oakland ahead by 10.

“That was the case of us deciding that we were going to feed him the ball and play some power football,” Raiders’ coach Jack Del Rio said.

That carry was Lynch’s last significant stamp on a game that got out of hand late, yet his highlight of the day was yet to come.

With the Raiders up big early in the fourth, Lynch began dancing during a break in play as “Oakland” by Vell featuring DJ Mustard played on the loudspeaker.

The Jumbotron camera quickly focused on him, and him only. Nobody else wanted to share the spotlight on a day, deservedly so, belonging to Lynch. For about a minute, he flailed his arms and viciously threw his body around. His dreadlocks whipped him in the face. He looked like a kid, relishing in his return home, having fun.

“Oh my god, I felt like 100,000 fans were bumping up and down for him,” Patterson said. “He’s the hometown guy. Everybody loves him. We love him.”

“I was going to join him,” Del Rio joked. “I thought it was best if I just stayed back and continued to coach. It got me fired up.”

“That’s Marshawn, man. I wish you guys could know Marshawn,” Penn said. “And Marshawn don’t like talking to media. He don’t like being around people he really don’t know that well.”

Marshawn emerged in the locker room, wearing a sweatshirt with “Beast Mode” stamped on his chest in gold and bulky headphones around his head. He said little, stared into the distance in silence instead of answering some questions and snapped at a reporter whose phone got too close to his face.

Instead of being the center of attention again, Lynch wanted to find his mom to give her the ball he was holding.

“I would like to be seein’ my mama right now, but I seein’ y’all,” Lynch said.

He then left the locker room, shunning the spotlight just like before the opening kickoff.