The Seahawks haven't had a strong start to the season by any stretch of the imagination, but the Seattle offense remains chock full of surprises. Four seasons ago, Marshawn Lynch shook the stadium -- and the city -- with his thunderous Beast Quake run that silenced the Saints. Last year, Pete Carroll flipped the script on the Packers with a fake field goal touchdown pass in the NFC Championship Game, a play that seismically shifted the game's momentum. So it's no surprise that on Sunday in Seattle's biggest game of the season to date, Carroll and Co. pulled out all the stops.
With the Seattle defense dominating Cam Newton and the Carolina offense throughout the first half, Carroll dug into his bag of tricks to start the second half off right. Up three points with 11:37 left in the third quarter, Russell Wilson took the snap from the Panthers' 40 and tossed a sweep right to Lynch. As the Carolina pass rush surged towards Beast Mode, the back tossed the ball back to Wilson in the middle of the backfield -- a designed flea-flicker. Wilson immediately cocked back and launched a bomb down the field toward Ricardo Lockette.
Lockette, open downfield, had to compensate for Wilson's underthrown lob and was soon blanketed by Panthers safety Kurt Coleman. As they both floated towards the end zone, Coleman turned around to spot the ball, but before he could hop up to defend the pass, Lockette piggy-backed the safety and reached his arms down over Coleman's face to steal the catch away. The flawless play resulted in a 17-7 Seahawks lead, one that would have been insurmountable in seasons past. Of course, Cam had other ideas.
Also on the countdown: A.J. who?! Marvin Jonessteals the show in Buffalo with two highlight reel efforts. ... Martavis Bryantracks up that YAC. ...DeAndre Hopkins channels his inner David Tyree. ... With Steve Gleason in the dome, Michael Mautipays tribute to the Saints legend.
