TEMPE, Ariz. -- It hasn’t been dangled in front of the Arizona Cardinals' defense like a carrot, nor has it been plastered all over the locker room.

Marshawn Lynch’s incredible 79-yard run in Week 16 last season that ended with the Seattle Seahawks running back diving into the end zone, turning midair and grabbing his groin has been hard to forget.

“It’s just something that’s going to stick with us the rest of our lives,” defensive tackle Frostee Rucker said.

“Every person that was out there and even people on the sideline that were a part of that … the guy made a hell of a play and you can’t even say nothing about it. Last year, I called it ‘childish’ when he did what he did when he dived in. But it is what it is. When you make plays like that on the so-called ‘very good defense,’ you got the right to do whatever the hell you want.”

The Cardinals say they're determined not to allow a repeat performance by Marshawn Lynch, who broke off this memorable 79-yard TD run in Arizona last season. AP Photo/Rick Scuteri

The defense watched the run just once this week. But that’s all that was needed.

“You can’t get past that play,” said outside linebacker Alex Okafor, who made a last-ditch attempt at catching Lynch after he realized Lynch broke free. “You try to erase it but you can’t get past it. And at the end of the day it’s going to be in the back of your mind.

“More than anything that was the stamp on that game last year. We know about it. We’re still going to play the same.”

As embarrassing for the Cardinals as the play was, as immature as the gesture by Lynch was, it’s still being used as motivation for Arizona, or at least coach Bruce Arians hopes so. But dollar linebacker Deone Bucannon called it “fuel.”

“Hopefully, with the guys that got their ass run over, it motivates them,” Arians said.

The Cardinals know the key to bringing Lynch down is to go for his legs, not hitting him high like they did on that run. He broke five tackles and fended off an attempt by Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson to strip him along the sideline.

“You have to want to,” cornerback Jerraud Powers said. “He’s not going to try to juke you. He’s not going to try to do any of those things. He’s going to try to run through you. That’s the type of back he is. I think a lot of guys that face him go in a little timid, a little scared almost, when you face guys like him.

“For us, our defense and us personally, it’s got to be a want to. You got to want to go in and tackle Marshawn. If you don’t go in there and tackle, he’s going to embarrass you on national TV.”

Arizona knows how that feels. The run came on nationally-televised “Sunday Night Football,” the same program on which Arizona will face Seattle on Sunday night.

In some ways, the Cardinals have been forced to just swallow their pride and move on from the run while trying not to forget about it. Seattle won 35-6.

Okafor said he won’t be saying anything to Lynch about it.

At least not until Arizona wins.

“They beat us down,” he said. “It’d be different if we won that game and he had done that. But they beat us down, so he had every right to do that.”