Seahawks gems: Breaking down the Beast Quake run versus the Saints

For Seattle Seahawks fans who are old enough to remember, the original Beast Mode run is likely your I-remember-where-I-was moment. By the way, how great is it to write a sentence if you are a Seahawks fan and have to specifically say "original Beast Mode run"? 12s know there were several during Marshawn Lynch's time in Seattle.

But the biggest one shook the world. Literally. Fan reaction inside Lumen Field (as it is known now) to Lynch's 67-yard touchdown run to basically seal the New Orleans Saints' fate in the Seahawks Wild Card victory in the 2010 playoffs set off a Beast Quake. A "small tremor" was registered by a nearby Pacific Northwest Seismic Network station.

In the 2010 season, Lynch's first with the team, and in the first year with Pete Carroll as head coach and John Schneider as the general manager, the Seahawks went only 7-9. The rest of the NFC West was so bad, though, that Seattle won the division and made the playoffs. Most national pundits didn't expect Seattle to put up much of a fight for the reigning NFL champions, the Saints. But they were wrong.

Seahawks greatness: Breaking down the Beast Quake run

Seattle led New Orleans 34-30 with 4:20 left in the game. After a Saints punt, the Seahawks started the next drive on their own 33-yard line and Lynch was stuffed on first down. On second down, Seattle called a play called 17 Power, the first time in the game this specific play was called. In front of Lynch was fullback Michael Robinson who was offset to Lynch's left. The ball was snapped, handed to Marshawn Lynch, and chaos ensued.

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While Seattle normally ran zone runs, 17 Power was designed for man-blocking. New Orleans had eight men in the box as they expected a run, but maybe not one that wasn't a zone scheme. Still, New Orleans didn't play the point of attack badly. Seattle offensive linemen Tyler Polumbus and Chris Spencer were supposed to team up on Saints defensive tackle Remi Ayodele and then one of the two Seattle linemen were supposed to slip off and block linebacker Scott Shanle, only that didn't happen.

Shanle actually came through clean, but Lynch was able to power past him. Instead of a 2-yard gain, Lynch breaking Shanle's tackle, and not being tripped by another Saints defender trying to reach for his legs, got him an initial five yards before he was able to push past safety Darren Sharper and into open field. Already at this point, one just had a feeling that something special was unfolding.

Saints cornerback Jabari Greer had a decent chance of taking down Lynch after catching up to him from behind at midfield but slid off Beast Mode as if Lynch was made of olive oil. Then came the best stiff arm in the history of the NFL. In fact, what Lynch did to CB Tracy Porter was more of a shove than a stiff arm. Porter seemed so humiliated by what happened that a few seconds later Porter didn't try tackling Lynch again and simply jogged in his direction.

After pushing Porter to the ground, only two more Saints had feeble attempts at taking Lynch down and were simply dives at his feet that weren't really close. Lynch weaved his way through Seahawks blockers for the last 30 yards and Lynch jumped into the end zone backwards to make the score (with the extra point) 41-30 and basically iced the game.

The Seahawks wouldn't win the Super Bowl for the 2010 season, but Marshawn Lynch's Beast Quake run helped set the tone of the franchise for the next several years. Seattle did win the Super Bowl for the 2013 season and went back to the championship game in 2014, of course. While the Legion of Boom was a group of defensive players, Lynch epitomized that on the offense. And if you are a 12, the original Beast Mode run might simply be the best run in the history of football.