Forget Skittles, Marshawn Lynch says he would shoot Hennessy in the locker room before NFL games ... claiming he would use his backpack to sneak the booze in.
Beast Mode revealed his secret pre-game ritual during an interview with Peyton Manning ... playing off his pre-game drinking routine as no big deal.
"My superstition was that I needed to have maybe a shot … a shot and half ... before every game," Lynch said on ESPN's "Peyton's Places."
Peyton asked Marshawn to clarify -- saying, "[A shot] of ... ?