SEATTLE — The one thing the Seahawks don’t appear to have to worry about is maybe the most important thing — quarterback Russell Wilson.
Wilson was about as good as he could be in the first half of Seattle’s second exhibition game Friday against the Vikings at CenturyLink Field, throwing for two touchdowns and completing 13 of 18 passes for 206 yards before taking a seat for the rest of the night in an eventual 20-13 win in front of 68,550.
And one of his incompletions was dropped — a potential touchdown to Kasen Williams, who let a pass go through his arms at the goal line in the second quarter.
Throw in his one series last Sunday against the Chargers and Wilson is 16 of 22 for 247 yards two touchdowns and no interceptions in the preseason, giving evidence he is past the injuries that plagued him throughout the 2016 season and is living up to coach Pete Carroll’s recent claim that he has been “on fire” in practice.
“I thought in the first half the first offense did a nice job,” Carroll said. “Russell was really sharp.”
Said Wilson: “I felt great and super in-tuned. I am ready to roll. I am excited about the season.”
But the one thing the Seahawks always appear to have to worry about — the offensive line — might be more of a concern than ever.
Projected starting left tackle George Fant was carted off the field with a right-knee injury suffered with roughly nine minutes remaining in the second quarter. It was later diagnosed as an ACL tear that will require surgery and will almost certainly sideline him for the rest of the season.
“Really broken-hearted about George Fant getting hurt,” Carroll said after the game. “Kind of takes a little something out of it for everybody.”
Wilson called it “upsetting” to see Fant get hurt. On the play, Fant was engaged with Minnesota end Tashawn Bower when teammate Justin Britt, who was making a block behind him, rolled into Fant’s legs.
“It was just kind of a freak play and unfortunate for him and unfortunate for us,” Wilson said.
Second-year player Rees Odhiambo replaced Fant at left tackle and struggled greatly, giving up two quick sacks and also being called for a holding penalty.
Carroll said after the game the Seahawks will consider all options, including possibly using left guard Luke Joeckel at left tackle.
Joeckel was signed to a one-year contract worth up to $8 million and the Seahawks had just about settled on a left side of Fant at tackle and Joeckel at guard. Joeckel, though, played primarily at left tackle during his four-year career at Jacksonville and could move back there now with Fant out.
“We’ll see (what we do),” Carroll said. “We are very fortunate Luke Joeckel is on our team. Luke can start at left tackle or left guard. Just fortunate he is with us so we have some choices and we will figure that out in time.”
Carroll didn’t dispute that the Seahawks could look to the outside to find help on the offensive line, as well.
“We are always competing at that,” Carroll said. “We are always looking. We’ll always be in pursuit of trying to get better so we will continue to look but we have to settle our issues with the guys that are here.”
But on this night, Wilson appeared capable of playing behind just about any offensive line — though it should be noted that the Vikings played their defensive starters for just two series.
Wilson hit on six of his first seven passes, at which point he had a perfect passer rating, including 5 of 6 for 60 yards on the first series, an 11-play 77-yard march against Minnesota’s No. 1 defense.
Doug Baldwin also looked in regular-season form in his first action of the preseason with four catches for 69 yards, all from Wilson and all in the first quarter.
Baldwin sat out last week after suffering an ankle injury in practice but caught all four of his targets against the Vikings before calling it an early night.
“I had a lot of fun,” Baldwin said. “I got tackled really hard one time so it was a welcome back to football. It’s not the offseason anymore.”
And three of the standouts of last week — Williams, Chris Carson, Blair Walsh — each again took turns in the spotlight.
Williams had another leaping circus catch for 27 yards early to set up his 1-yard TD grab from Wilson to give Seattle a 7-0 lead and then made a tackle on the kickoff — “almost like the hat trick,” Carroll said.
Carson led the Seahawks with 27 yards on six carries in the first half, and Walsh hit two 52-yard field goals in the third quarter, and after each appearing to taunt the Minnesota sideline — he was cut by the Vikings last November after playing there since 2012. Walsh said after the game he taunted the Vikings’ bench because he had heard some taunting from the Vikings earlier.
“When they are out there kind of yelling at you and taunting you on kicks, I’ve been in the league awhile and I didn’t really like that,” he said.
With the Seahawks thin at receiver with Tyler Lockett and Paul Richardson still out, Williams got the start and he seemed to strengthen his case for a roster spot coming on the heels of his breakout four-catch, 119-yard performance against the Chargers (though Williams surely rued the drop in the end zone).
Running back Mike Davis, who moved past Alex Collins on the depth chart after a solid game against the Chargers, also strengthened his bid for a roster spot, catching the second of Wilson’s touchdowns on a 22-yard screen pass and also uncorking a 38-yard run in the second half.
Throw in a largely dominant effort by the defense and it was a mostly feel-good day as the Seahawks improved to 2-0 for the preseason. The Vikings had just 200 yards in the first three quarters and only 90 in the second and third as the Seahawks took a 20-6 lead into the fourth quarter.
Seattle will play Kansas City next Friday in the third preseason game at 5 p.m. at CenturyLink Field.