Marshawn Lynch surprises Mike Macdonald in his Seahawks coaching debut. Because only Lynch could

Despite being a meticulous man – a self-confessed “nerd” – Mike Macdonald has prepared for everything he could think of ahead of his first game as manager.

Except this.

He couldn’t understand how Marshawn Lynch could have patted him on the shoulder on the sideline during his first Seahawks game.

With 2 1/2 minutes left in the first quarter of Seattle’s opener against Denver at Lumen Field on Sunday, Macdonald prepared to call a defensive play. It was the start of the Broncos’ fourth possession. The game was tied 3-3.

Lynch visited the team on Sunday along with former teammates, Super Bowl champions Doug Baldwin and Kam Chancellor, and Hall of Fame inductee Steve Largent for the team’s rematch.

Lynch, the now-retired, iconic one-on-one quarterback, approached Macdonald along the edge of the court.

Lynch began massaging the lower neck and upper arms of the intense trainer. Then he joked with Macdonald.

Stunned, Macdonald smiled nervously, if not forcedly. Then he laughed.

He kept looking at the defense sheet.

“Is that what he did?” Macdonald asked later.

“I think I fainted.”

It was so Lynchian.

It wasn’t McDonald’s.

It was the most unexpected experience the NFL’s youngest coach had in his first game in charge, a 26-20 Seahawks victory that kicked off the Mike Macdonald era.

“Yeah, no former player has ever talked to me during a game,” the 37-year-old former Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator said.

“That’s pretty cool. I thought to myself, we’ve got three more quarters to play.”

McDonald laughed.

“It’s incredible. He’s one of my favorite players of all time. He’s incredible. Yeah, funny. He came up right behind me. I found myself talking to him as they were coming onto the pitch.

“I thought to myself, ‘Oh, crap! I need a call for the first serve!’

Kenneth Walker appreciates Marshawn Lynch

About 90 minutes before kick-off, Lynch walked along the west sideline.

He hugged friends — including Chancellor, his former Seahawks teammate — and team employees. He hugged fans he recognized from seven seasons as Seattle’s standout, devastating running back. Those seasons included the franchise’s best ever, back-to-back Super Bowls in 2013 and 2014, with the franchise’s only NFL championship.

As the entire Seahawks roster took the field for pre-game warmups 45 minutes before kickoff, Lynch and his teammate, former Super Bowl champion Doug Baldwin, chatted with Macdonald.

Lynch wore a black hood over his head in the 70-degree late morning under the hazy Seattle sun. Over that, he wore a jacket with his old jersey number, 24, on the front and the Madden video game logo above the words “Rating Performance Adjuster.”

Kenneth Walker, Lynch’s newest successor as Seattle’s starting quarterback, took the opportunity to talk to him.

“Yeah, definitely. I went to talk to him before the game,” Walker said. “At first, he didn’t see my head. And then when he saw it, he started laughing — he cut my hair (recently).

“It’s always nice to see guys here who played before me. I talked to Baldwin, too.”