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But as the regular season ends with Sunday's home game against the St. Louis Rams, Wilson finds himself rushing into NFL history.

As Seattle Times staffer Bob Condotta notes, Wilson's 842 yards on the ground are the sixth-most for a quarterback in NFL history, and fifth-most since World War II.

If Wilson hits his average of 56 yards Sunday, he'll move into fifth all-time. With 61 yards, he'll move into fourth.

Wilson said Wednesday he's unlikely to become only the second quarterback in NFL history to rush for 1,000 or more yards in a season. Michael Vick ran for 1,039 yards with the Atlanta Falcons in 2006.

"Yeah, close to 1,000 yards,' he said, then laughed. "Not sure if I'll get that this game. Hopefully not. I'll be out of gas.'

Wilson, though, has shown no signs of slowing down as the season winds down despite already running 112 times -- 16 more than in 2013 and 18 more than his rookie season of 2012.

Coaches echo Wilson's comments when asked why he has run more this season. That's just how things have worked out, they say.

"The games dictate that somewhat,' head coach Pete Carroll said this week. "If they give us an opportunity for him to run, we are going to take it. It's not something we are going to force the issue on.'

Still, offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell says, "It's just kind of part of who we are now.'

As Condotta pointed out, that's particularly true since the trade of Percy Harvin forced the Seahawks to reconfigure their receiving corps and place greater emphasis on the running game. Wilson rushed for 222 yards in the first five games before Harvin was traded -- 44.4 yards per game. Since Harvin was traded, Wilson is averaging 62 rushing yards.

The Seahawks have a package of designed runs for Wilson. Other plays have an option for Wilson to run, such as zone reads, where Wilson can hand the ball to Marshawn Lynch (or another running back) or keep it.

And then there are the times that just happens, such as the 55-yard run in Sunday's 35-6 win over Arizona.

Rams coach Jeff Fisher is well aware of Wilson's skill as a runner.

"The best way to describe it is that he's an extra player on offense," Fisher said this week. "They're playing with 12, and that's very hard to defend.'

Seattle's coaches design runs to keep Wilson largely out of traffic, but trust him to be smart enough to avoid taking big hits.

"We don't want him getting hit,' Carroll said. "We are trying to keep him from getting hit and he does a great job of that himself. But that's part of the scheme, too. We won't want to put him in harm's way. That's not how it goes. We take what we can get.'

As Condotta put it, "Wilson has taken plenty."

He's only the third player in NFL history to rush for 800 or more yards in a season while also throwing for 3,000 or more (the others are Vick and Randall Cunningham).

That production is reflected in Wilson's current standing on the year-to-date Player Performance Rankings, where he sits at No. 5 among all QBs. ...

Also of interest. ... In case you missed it, Luke Willson caught all three of his targets for a career-high 139 yards on Sunday night.

As Pro Football Focus' Mike Clay notes, the 2013 fifth-round pick has plenty of size (6-5, 252 pounds) and tons of speed (4.51 40-yard dash).

And with Tony Moeaki out, Willson handled all but 12 of Seattle's offensive snaps.

That said, Clay stressed Willson's floor is very low, as Seattle's offense is very run-heavy and doesn't run many plays. Even if Moeaki is out (and he's practicing fully this week), Clay contends that "Willson will be nothing more than a TE2."