RENTON — This season, Wednesday has become quarterback Matt Hasselbeck’s routine day for rest. And he has almost as many aches as weeks in the season.
The battered 34-year-old, three-time Pro Bowl passer sat out another practice with a sore throwing shoulder, but coach Jim Mora said Hasselbeck is probable to start for the Seahawks on Sunday at Houston.
“He’s just sore,” Mora said, before backup Seneca Wallace ran the offense through practice. “Nothing structurally wrong, and he should be back out there (Thursday).”
Mora called Hasselbeck’s soreness a product of “wear and tear.”
There’s been plenty of both this season.
Sunday, Hasselbeck was hit by San Francisco’s Dashon Goldson at the end of a third-down scramble in the third quarter. The quarterback was on his back for a tense moment with a doctor and trainer over him. Yet he finished Seattle’s win and even was 12 for 13 passing after the injury.
“I just needed a minute,” he said about the scare.
It was the second time this season Hasselbeck got hurt trying to run against the 49ers. Patrick Willis broke the quarterback’s ribs on his dive for the goal line on Sept. 20, and he was rushed to Stanford Medical Center for fears of heart or lung problems.
He missed two games, then admitted he returned before he was fully healthy, with the aid of painkilling injections after Seahawks doctors determined he wouldn’t damage the ribs any more by playing. Then he banged his throwing shoulder while making a tackle on an interception early in a game against Detroit on Nov. 8.
Trainers rubbed his shoulder and he stayed in the game, rallying Seattle from 17 points down while throwing sidearm to avoid pain and not being able to throw deep.
That shoulder was just getting better when he hurt it again on Sunday. And he said he felt pain again in those ribs again on Goldson’s tackle.
This is after a 2008 season in which he missed a season-high nine games with a disk issue in his back. The broken year called into some question how long his run as Seattle’s starter that began in 2001 can continue.
Yet Mora said he doesn’t think Hasselbeck is breaking down behind pass protection that has been injured and generally ineffective for the last two-plus seasons.
“(He’s) pretty good for this point in the year considering some of the shots he has taken,” Mora said.
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