SEATTLE ­­– Following the Seattle Seahawks 40-7 victory over the Carolina Panthers, head coach Pete Carroll shared the following injury updates.

Seahawks safety Earl Thomas was helped off the field in the second quarter of Sunday's game and was ruled out with a lower leg fracture. Carroll had unfortunate news about Thomas' status in his postgame press conference.

"He broke his leg tonight," Carroll said. "I don't know what that means, but it's always six weeks anyway. I don't know how severe it is, but it's very unfortunate. He ran into Kam (Chancellor) — Kam's made of steel — so that's going to hurt and it sure did."

Carroll said he is unsure whether or not Thomas will be back this season and noted that Steven Terrell will replace Thomas in the starting defensive backfield next to Chancellor for the time being.

"Steven will step up and we'll count on him to come through for us," Carroll said.

"You lose one of the best safeties ever to play the game," added Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson when asked about Thomas' injury.

"He's one of many heartbeats back there. Earl is going to be great, he's going to be able to overcome it. It's a process.

"He'll be back and he'll be stronger than ever."

Fullback Will Tukuafu (concussion) was the only other Seahawks player to leave the game to injury Sunday. Starting left tackle George Fant missed time in the first quarter, but still played the majority of the game, while Thomas Rawls went to the locker room to undergo concussion protocol, but was cleared to return.

Speaking of Rawls, the second-year running back was stellar in his third game back from injury. Rawls carried the ball 16 times for 106 yards against the Panthers and scored two touchdowns — the first two touchdown game of his career.

"Thomas looked like Thomas," Carroll said. "I tried to let you know that there was something different about his preparation and the way he felt. He finally got his legs back under him and he felt great."

In his first two games, Rawls ran for 57 and 38 yards, respectively. Carroll continued to praise Thomas' preparation throughout the week when asked about the difference in his performance against Carolina.

"The difference was through the week. His preparation was right on point and his mentality and the physical side … he was just quicker from Wednesday on. Every day he was at practice, he was on it and you could see it.

"It was great to see that, that's what we imagined would be happening and finally tonight we got that feeling."