Ben's Babbles: Always play to the whistle

Several players went up for a rebound and a Sandy player came down with it. Seemingly expecting a foul to be called, she just stood there with the ball. HRV's Lacey Brazille seized the moment and the ball as she sneaked up from behind to force a jump ball.

In my Hoops Highlights video for the week (videos can be found in the sports blog of the new hoodrivernews.com) I made it one of my top plays.

It was a learning moment. A few football players had learning moments last weekend.

In the Seattle Seahawks unlikely win over the New Orleans Saints last Saturday, Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch had one of the more amazing touchdown runs you will ever see. By my count, Lynch ran through eight defenders. The other three who never touched him were taken completely out of the play by his teammates.

Those three may have been the lucky ones.

Lynch ran through two players who seemingly had him stopped for no gain, with an assist from fullback Michael Robinson, who knocked a third man away.

He then ran through six more men, including tossing New Orleans cornerback Tracy Porter five yards downfield on a high tackle attempt.

Not only was Lynch unstoppable, but his entire team never gave up on the play either. The final blocks to help throw off a tackler came from quarterback Matt Hasselback and lineman Tyler Columbus, both of whom sprinted 60 yards downfield to help in the run.

A play that appeared stopped about two seconds in and then turned into a 67-yard touchdown to ice one of the biggest wins in team history all came about because Lynch and his 11 teammates never stopped playing before the whistle blew.

In the college football national championship Monday Auburn running back Michael Dwyer rolled over Oregon defender Eddie Pleasant during a tackle. Both players stopped, assuming the play was over. But neither Dwyer's knees nor elbows touched the ground, meaning the play was still live.

Auburn coaches screamed for Dwyer to keep running, and he did, gaining 40 yards and setting up an eventual game-winning field goal for Auburn.

Both teams learned an important lesson on the play: Never stop until the whistle blows.

One the players humiliated the most during Lynch's touchdown run was Tracey Porter, the safety who Lynch blasted five yards down the field. He was also one of the few Saints who actually participated in nearly the whole play.

Porter was first knocked to the ground by a Seattle offensive lineman as he rushed the play, got back up, ran across the field and attempted to tackle Lynch. For his efforts he was rewarded with a poster-worthy toss to the ground.

He got up again, and continued to run after Lynch, but as Lynch got near the end zone and his odds of catching him grew slimmer, you could see him slow up, probably thinking he wanted nothing more to do with Lynch or his blockers and that he had no chance of actually catching the Seattle running back.

Still, until the whistle blows, you have no idea what could happen.