Seahawks Halftime Observations: Young Rushers Shine, Seattle Trails Vikings, 10-7

Despite falling behind by 10 points early, the Seattle Seahawks came back with a strong response led by quarterback Drew Lock to head into intermission trailing by only three in their exhibition opener.

Playing their first dress rehearsal against another team, the Seattle Seahawks went into the break trailing their preseason opener 10-7 against the Minnesota Vikings.

Starting under center with Geno Smith sporting a cap on the sideline, Drew Lock completed 10 out of 13 passes for 144 yards and threw a touchdown to Easop Winston. Defensively, Jon Rhattigan led the team with nine tackles and Tre Brown produced a pass breakup in coverage.

Here are three quick observations from the first half at Lumen Field:

1. Rookies make an immediate impact along the defensive line pressuring Nick Mullens.

With starters Dre'Mont Jones and Uchenna Nwosu not playing, rookies Mike Morris and Derick Hall earned the start in their first NFL action and wasted little time causing problems for Minnesota's offensive line and Mullens. On the second play from scrimmage, Hall drew a hold on a short run by Ty Chandler, pushing the visitors back to their own seven-yard line. Two plays later, Hall turned up the heat on Mullens, forcing him to step up in the pocket near his own goal line before getting blasted by Morris as he threw, forcing a fourth down incompletion into the turf.

On the ensuing drive, Hall made a nifty move inside on a twist stunt and rocketed past the guard untouched, smacking Mullens as he threw. Unfortunately, he landed directly on the quarterback and drew a roughing the passer penalty that pushed the Vikings into field goal range. But the Seahawks stiffened up defensively and on third down, Morris teamed up with undrafted rookie Levi Bell to hit Mullens as he tried rolling out to his left, again forcing a rushed incompletion that led to a short field goal by Greg Joseph. In total, rookie pass rushers contributed four pressures, including two from Bell in his first exhibition game with the team.

2. Away from the pass rush, poor tackling showed up frequently and helped lead to an early two-score deficit.

While Seattle found success getting after Mullens with seven combined quarterback hits, tackles left on the field ended up hurting the defense throughout the first half. On Minnesota's first scoring drive, linebacker Jon Rhattigan whiffed on a pair of tackles, cornerback Tre Brown couldn't bring down Johnny Mundt on a third down completion, and defensive end Boye Mafe had a back slip out of his grasps. Poor pursuit angles and inconsistent gap play also hurt against the run, bringing back some ugly memories from last season.

If there's a silver lining, however, the Seahawks did allow just 3.2 yards per carry in the first half and hunkered down in the red zone, turning the Vikings away after they had first and goal on their second drive. Most notably, Mafe drew the praise of former star Michael Bennett on Seattle's broadcast for his efforts setting the edge, helping stuff a 3rd and 1 run on the second drive and blowing up another run later on the drive with an impressive job shedding a block for a tackle for loss. Rhattigan also tallied nine tackles, rebounding from some early mishaps.

3. After a sluggish start, Lock finds his groove in an impressive touchdown drive to cut into Minnesota's lead.

With pass rushers coming after him frequently early, Lock and the Seahawks' offense came out slow out of the gate. Running just 13 plays total for 54 yards, each of their first three possessions resulted in a punt by Michael Dickson as the Vikings pulled out ahead by 10 points early. At that stage, Lock had only thrown for 42 yards with few completions downfield.

But midway through the second quarter, Lock found a rhythm, driving Seattle 59 yards on just six plays. Completing all three of his passes for 48 yards, he lofted a 29-yard strike to undrafted rookie Jake Bobo down to the Minnesota 15-yard line. After two short runs by rookie Zach Charbonnet, he then dropped back and fired a missile over the middle while getting hit by an oncoming pass rusher, sneaking a fastball past two defenders to Easop Winston for a 13-yard touchdown to put the home team on the board moments before halftime.

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