SEATTLE — Russell Wilson’s first appearance at home since hoisting the Lombardi Trophy looked very similar to Seattle’s Super Bowl domination even in a limited performance.
Wilson threw for 121 yards and ran for two touchdowns, leading Seattle to scores on all four of his possessions and the Seahawks beat the San Diego Chargers 41-14 on Friday night.
Wilson did a little of everything. He was pressured on the first snap of the game and avoided it to complete a pass. He scrambled when the pressure created clear running lanes. He threw sharp passes to open receivers and he operated Seattle’s offence with an efficiency missing in its preseason opener at Denver.
Wilson did what’s become expected.
Wilson completed 11 of 13 passes, and connected on his first eight attempts. He ran for another 31 yards as Seattle finished the first half with 260 yards of offence, 255 of those with Wilson at quarterback.
Marshawn Lynch made his preseason debut for all of two plays before giving way to backups Robert Turbin and Christine Michael. Lynch held out of the first week of training camp and did not touch the ball in his two snaps. Seattle did get some of its other stars involved, including Percy Harvin who had four receptions for 31 yards after catching five passes all of last season.
Turbin finished with 81 yards on 12 carries. Turbin showed open-field speed cutting back on the defence and racing for 47 yards on one carry, and displayed power bulling in for a 1-yard touchdown.
Terrelle Pryor got an extended look in the competition to back up Wilson and showed why Seattle is so enticed. Pryor was 1 of 4 passing, but ran away from San Diego’s defence on a 44-yard TD run in the fourth quarter. B.J. Daniels also had a 6-yard TD run as Seattle had four touchdowns rushing from its quarterbacks.
San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers played just one series before handing off to Kellen Clemens. San Diego kept most of its starting offence on the field with Clemens, but the Chargers could manage only 42 yards against Seattle’s defensive starters, 37 of those coming on the one drive Rivers led.
Rivers attempted just four passes in his limited stint. Clemens played through the third quarter and threw touchdowns of 13 yards to Keenan Allen and 3 yards to Jake Byrne.
Defensive end Corey Liuget made his first appearance of the preseason after missing last week, while Eric Weddle played one series before sitting out. Defensive tackle Sean Lissemore left in the first quarter with an ankle injury, but walked off the field without help. Backup safety Jahleel Addae also left with a hamstring injury.
Just when it seemed Wilson’s night should be done, he took one more series as the Seahawks worked on its hurry-up offence. The result: Wilson took Seattle 67 yards in under 4 minutes, capping the drive with a 5-yard touchdown scramble.
The drive provided the only moment of apprehension for Seattle when Doug Baldwin was knocked out of the back of the end zone on a big hit from San Diego safety Darrell Stuckey. Baldwin was slow to get up, but was laughing on the sideline when Wilson scrambled for the TD and a 24-0 Seattle lead.
Seattle also cleaned up its penalty problems from the preseason opener when 13 flags were called against Denver and was better on third down. The Seahawks were called for three penalties in the first half and were 5 of 6 on third downs.
