Hasselbeck says he’s healthy

Published 10:04 pm Sunday, September 7, 2008

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Mike Holmgren pulled an old trick out of his hat on Sunday afternoon, downplaying an injury to a Pro Bowl player.

The Seattle Seahawks’ coach did it twice in Shaun Alexander’s final two seasons with the team, saying that the running back’s broken wrist was no big deal and brushing off a report that Alexander had a cracked bone in his foot by telling the media that everyone has cracked bones in their body.

On Sunday, when ESPN reported that the back injury that kept quarterback Matt Hasselbeck out of three preseason games was a bulging disc, Holmgren rolled his eyes and downplayed the significance of the injury.

“I have a bulging disc,” Holmgren said when a Herald reporter asked him about the ESPN story. “You have a bulging disc. Everybody does. If you play football for a while, and they look at your back, you’re going to have a little disc that looks funky in there.

“It doesn’t bother him at all. It’s fine.”

Hasselbeck did not deny the report, but he said the pain he felt last month was not related to the injury.

“It was probably five, six years old,” he said after Sunday’s 34-10 loss to Buffalo. “That is not really why my back was hurt. … It was really minor in terms of the injuries I have had.”

The condition happens over time, not necessarily because of blunt trauma, and typically occurs in the lower back region. Discs, which are the soft material coating the vertebrae, can bulge through a crevice in the spine because of degeneration. The injury does not always create pain unless it becomes herniated.

Hasselbeck missed most of training camp and three preseason games because of what the Seahawks were calling back tightness.

While Hasselbeck struggled for most of Sunday’s game — he misfired on his first four passes and finished 17 of 41 for a paltry passer rating of 53.9 — the Pro Bowl quarterback said that his performance had nothing to do with the back problems.

“I am definitely healthy,” he said. “Just a little frustrated and disappointed, but I am healthy.”

Holmgren seemed frustrated too — not only by the lopsided loss, but also by the continuance of questions about Hasselbeck’s condition.

“I told you: he tweaked his back,” Holmgren said. “He did get an injection in there of medicine to make it better, but that’s all it is. It’s not a big deal.”

In the cases of Alexander, the injuries ended up hampering his play and being major factors in his eventual release.

But those injuries were more directly related to what Alexander does on the field, while Hasselbeck’s condition has not appeared to affect his throwing motion or his mobility.

Home, sweet home: Once again, the Seahawks struggled on an East Coast road trip.

The team has not played well east of the Mississippi during Holmgren’s 10 years as head coach, going 14-25 in that span. Seattle has lost 19 of 25 games in that part of the country since 2003. By contrast, the Seahawks have a 49-14 record west of the Mississippi in that span, including a 37-8 mark at Qwest Field.

Linebacker Julian Peterson said the lack of East Coast success is simply a coincidence.

“It’s always going to be something,” he said. “We can’t worry about that. We just have to go out and play the game.”

Quick recovery: Before leaving the game with a knee injury, Seahawks receiver Nate Burleson scored Seattle’s only touchdown.

But only after a near-disastrous drop.

On second down, Burleson slipped past two defenders and was wide open at the goal line when quarterback Matt Hasselbeck delivered a perfect pass. Burleson needlessly went airborne and ended up bobbling the ball before it hit the ground.

On the next play, Burleson out-jumped Buffalo cornerback Jabari Greer for an impressive 20-yard TD reception.

“I didn’t know I was that wide open,” Burleson said of the drop. “I grabbed it, and it slipped right through.

“That’s why you didn’t see much of a celebration when I caught my touchdown. That was more frustration from the play before. I was just trying to make up and show my teammates they could count on me.”

Hasselbeck said he intentionally went back to Burleson on the next play.

“I just tried to give him another opportunity,” Hasselbeck said. “He dropped the easy one and made a really spectacular catch on the hard one. I know that he wanted the next opportunity, and he made the most of it.”

NFC Worst? The Seahawks’ division has taken a lot of criticism this year, and Sunday’s results are unlikely to quiet the detractors.

Seattle and rival St. Louis got outscored by a combined 72-13 in a pair of non-division losses on Sunday. The NFC West’s other two teams, Arizona and San Francisco, played each other in a 23-13 Cardinals win.

That leaves Arizona alone atop the division, at 1-0, with the other three teams a game back.

Kaz in the house: Former Seahawks linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski, who grew up outside of Buffalo, was at Rich Stadium rooting for his former team.

Kacyvenski, who is unemployed, said he is trying to get back into the league after undergoing microfracture knee surgery 12 months ago. He currently lives in Boston with his wife and two children.

Quick slants: The Seahawks used Burleson as their primary punter returner Sunday, but when he came out of the game with the knee injury, backup quarterback Seneca Wallace took over. … Running back Maurice Morris suffered a knee injury in the first half and will be re-evaluated today. He started the game, while Julius Jones is expected to start next week regardless of Morris’s health. … Middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu also suffered an injury, coming out of the game late in the first half with a sore hand. But he returned to the field in the second half.