It's hard to find anyone that isn't excited about the Oakland Raiders signing hometown hero Marshawn Lynch. Maybe Seahawks fans aren't thrilled about it, but everyone else seems pumped up, both for Marshawn and for the team. 

Included among that group of people is former Raiders coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer John Madden. Madden spoke to the Raiders' social media team this week and let them know exactly why he likes the idea of Beast Mode in silver and black. 

"One of the worst things in pro football right now is short-yardage and goal-line offense," Madden said. "Teams can't get first downs by running; and they get down to the goal line, and they're down there on the 1-yard line throwing the ball. What's that all about? I think if Marshawn Lynch can take [the Raiders] out of that -- if he can get first downs on third down, and if he can get touchdowns on goal line -- that would be a great big deal for the Raiders."

Madden is correct that teams are passing in short yardage situations more than ever before, despite the fact that short-yardage runs tend to have a higher conversion rate these days. (Though that could be tied to the smaller sample size of opportunities.) And Lynch might be most famous at this point for the fact that his former team didn't give him the ball on the 1-yard line with the Super Bowl on the line, than he is for his classic Beast Mode runs back in the day. So that was a pretty topical thing to bring up when discussing the Raiders' new back, too. 

As for the Raiders, they finished 31st in the league on third or fourth down with two or fewer yards to go last season, per Pro-Football-Reference, so they could definitely use some help in that area.