Seahawks’ mid-preseason outlook: Wilson, as expected is impressive

Friday reinforced one thing we already knew – Russell Wilson is pretty darn good.

Wilson completed 13 of 18 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns in just one half in a 20-13 win over the Vikings for a 147.0 passer rating.

If he had done that for an entire game it would have been the third-highest passer rating of his career (and it’s worth noting Wilson really seems to like playing the Vikings – two of his three best career regular-season passer ratings have come against Minnesota, including a career-high 151.4 in 2013).

But we learned a few new things Friday, too.

Here are six that stood out.

1. The running game is still a work in progress

For a second straight game coach Pete Carroll was left lamenting that the running game lagged.

“We didn’t run the ball quite as well as we’d like to,’’ he said.

One caveat – Wilson, whose operation of the zone read is such a key to Seattle’s rushing attack, always does little running in the preseason for the obvious reason and had just 1 yard on two scrambles against the Vikings.

The Seahawks, though, would like to be able to run it without having to depend on Wilson. But they didn’t do much early when the Vikings still had some of their starters and key backups in the game – Seattle had 48 yards on 15 attempts in the first half before finishing with 153 on 34 – 38 coming on one run by Mike Davis in the third quarter.

Eddie Lacy and Chris Carson played only in the first half and combined for 47 yards on 12 carries – not terrible but the Seahawks would like a little more (also, it’s interesting that Carson seemed to get starter’s treatment, playing only the first half at running back, though he did make one of his other highlight plays in the second half – a forced fumble on the kickoff to start the third quarter, the kind of special teams play that also seems to make his spot on the 53-man roster just about a lock at this point).

Expect Thomas Rawls and probably C.J. Prosise back next week when the Seahawks will look to get the running game going a little more consistently against the Chiefs.

2. Shaquill Griffin showed he won’t back down

The Vikings tested Griffin – who got the official start at right cornerback with the Seahawks beginning the game in nickel and Jeremy Lane filling that role – early and often. Griffin gave up receptions of 12 and 10 yards on two of the first three plays of the game and gave up a 4-yard completion on a third-and-3 later in the game. But he also batted away a deep pass to Michael Floyd. And in the eyes of Carroll, it was his ability to keep to not get down after giving up the early completions that stood out.

“I was impressed with his mentality because they came out and threw a couple balls at him and he got shoved a little bit,’’ Carroll said. “… he was having fun playing football and he was competing and battling and listening to the coaching and all of that and very receptive. I thought he did a nice job.’’

The corner spot got more competitive this week with the signing of Tramaine Brock, who played extensively in the second half but who had just two practices this week and will need a little more time to figure out exactly where he fits. While who fits exactly what role may still be in some flux – it’s worth noting Lane was still the starter in the base defense in the couple of snaps the starters played in that look in the first series – what is clear is that the Seahawks appear to have more quality depth at cornerback than this time a year ago.

3. Seattle’s best-laid plans on the offensive line have already been scuttled

The tragic ACL injury suffered by George Fant will force the Seahawks to shuffle the offensive line after they appeared to be just about ready to solidify it. Carroll was understandably vague about what the team will do now. But he seemed to hint strongly at moving veteran free agent signee Luke Joeckel back to left tackle and then sliding someone else in at left guard. One thought is that Mark Glowinski, who started at left guard all last season, could move back there with Oday Aboushi playing right guard. The team moved Glowinski to right guard – where he has been rotating with Aboushi – thinking he would be more comfortable there (that’s where he played in college) and with Joeckel ready to step in at left guard. But putting each back at the spot where they have played plenty in the past might be the best option – and at this point, getting both Glowinski and Aboushi on the field would seem to be making use of what are also the team’s best five offensive linemen.

What seems less likely is leaving Rees Odhiambo as the starter at left tackle. The third-year player has been the backup at left tackle much of camp and the coaches likely let him step in after Fant got hurt to see what they have. But Odhiambo struggled mightily, giving up two sacks in the span of three plays in the third quarter and also getting a holding call.

Just what everyone needed – a lot more intrigue about the offensive line.

Adding to the intrigue is free agent Tyrus Thompson, whom the Seahawks on Sunday reportedly signed as depth at left tackle. The 6-5, 330-pound Thompson started 26 games at left tackle at Oklahoma before being taken in the fifth round of the 2015 draft by Minnesota. Thompson, though, did not stick with the Vikings and has been with four other teams since, most recently with Carolina, which waived him last week. He has yet to appear in an NFL regular-season games.

4. Kasen Williams may just about be a lock for the 53-man roster

Williams got substantial playing time early and made two more big plays – a leaping, one-handed 27-yard catch to then set up his 1-yard TD pass on a fade route from Wilson. He also dropped a potential touchdown later in the game.

But the two catches combined with a tackle on the kickoff made a pretty loud statement, especially considering few other of the team’s young receivers did much – draft picks Amara Darboh and David Moore didn’t make a catch and Darboh was examined for a concussion, while Kenny Lawler didn’t have a pass thrown his way and Cyril Grayson didn’t make a reception on two targets and doesn’t have a catch yet in the preseason.

And it’s worth noting that where last week Williams ate up a San Diego rookie corner playing his first game – undrafted free agent Mike Davis – his two catches Friday came against two veteran Vikings (Xavier Rhodes on the one-handed 27-yarder and Marcus Sherels on the touchdown).

5. David Bass might be the guy you’ve never heard of who makes the team

Bass, a defensive end who has bounced around the NFL since 2013, stood out for the second straight week with two tackles, two quarterback hits, a pass defense and a fumble recovery. Pro Football Focus gave him the game ball as the best player on the field. Recall that Bass had two tackles and half-a-sack last week against the Chargers.

The caveat is that he once again did much of his work against backups.

But Bass has played significantly before – he has nine starts in his career including seven in 2015 with the Titans. Another game or two like that and Bass might be hard to keep off the roster.

6. If there were questions about Richard Sherman’s attitude this season, they should be answered by now

There was no shortage of social media and radio talk-show space the last few months spent wondering how Sherman would deal with an offseason of trade rumors and then ending up back where he has been all along, with the Seahawks.

But few Seattle players have seemed more engaged on the sidelines so far than Sherman. Last week, he led the charged to celebrate when Williams stole a pass away from Davis in the Chargers game.

Friday night, Sherman seemed to be everywhere. When rookie Delano Hill made a tackle in the second quarter, Sherman clapped heartily and took a few steps onto the field to say “good job’’ – or something much more colorful to that effect – to Hill. And when Blair Walsh made his second 52-yard field goal and then said something equally colorful to the Vikings bench Sherman rushed off the sidelines to join him.

If Sherman is unhappy in Seattle he has a funny way of showing it so far.