Donte Whitner on his former teammate, Marshawn Lynch: “We’re not really friends.”

SANTA CLARA – The honorable Donte Whitner spoke at his locker this afternoon to a group of reporters about his former Buffalo Bills teammate, Marshawn Lynch.

Here’s what Whitner said.

Q: You guys have been great against the run, and now you face Marshawn Lynch. Talk a little about him.

WHITNER: I played with Marshawn up in Buffalo for four years, so I know the things that he can do. He’s a tremendously talented back. He can catch the ball out of the backfield. He’s very physical. He’s going to fight for every inch he can get out there, but one thing about that is you’re always leaving the ball vulnerable to be stripped. I was in Buffalo with him when he had some fumbling problems. We’re going to try to get that ball out from him. We understand that these guys are going to come out and try to get in the end zone on the ground. It’s like a pride thing right now with other teams that we face and we’ve got to be prepared to stop the run.

Q: Sometimes that’s the more dangerous team – the team with pride and not a lot to play for, right?

WHITNER: Yeah, (Lynch) is playing for a new contract, too. It’s always dangerous when you’re playing guys that are playing for a new contract and they still have a slight chance to get into the playoffs. We understand that if we step out there on the football field and just throw our hat our there we can be beaten. Any team can be beaten as you saw with Kansas City and Green Bay, as you saw with us and Arizona when we went out there. If we’re not prepared and detail oriented when we got up there we’re be beaten, but we’ll be prepared when we get up there.

Q: What’s the biggest difference that you’ve seen from Marshawn Lynch on film over the last eight or so games?

WHITNER: He looks like he’s in better shape. Sometimes in Buffalo he had some issues of being out of shape and putting on too much weight, but right now it looks like he’s in really good shape, he looks like he’s really determined and he looks like he’s trying to get in the end zone each and every game, since he’s had 10 straight games of getting in the end zone.

Q: Are you friends with him?

WHITNER: Not really, no. We’re not really friends.

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