GREEN BAY, Wis. — Before last weekend, Matt Hasselbeck had started 114 games in his NFL career, played in 153, and only once in that 11-year span was he intercepted four times in a game.
In the last eight days, however, Hasselbeck has twice matched his career high for interceptions in a game. And on the road against a playoff-bound team, four interceptions was the recipe for a 48-10 defeat at the hands of the Green Bay Packers in the city where Hasselbeck began his NFL career.
And for the second straight Sunday, Hasselbeck took the blame for a Seahawks loss.
“I’m definitely searching for answers,” said Hasselbeck, whose passer rating of 36.6 was the third lowest of his career. “… I’m looking for answers, I’m looking for ways to improve, things to do, not to do.”
Hasselbeck’s first interception looked to be a bit flukey, as he lost the handle on the ball while trying to stop his throwing motion. That ended a promising first-quarter drive for Seattle and set up Green Bay’s first touchdown.
“I tried to pull the ball back and the ball kind of slipped out of my hands and went forward,” he said. “It was really the worst thing that could have possibly happened at that moment. Shot ourselves in the foot. I take full responsibility for it. It’s something that can’t happen.”
The second interception also ended a potential scoring drive. Facing third-and-six from Green Bay’s 12, Hasselbeck threw a pass that was tipped at the line of scrimmage. T.J. Houshmandzadeh, the intended receiver on the play, also lost his footing, perhaps trying to adjust to the tipped ball, and the result was an easy interception instead of a touchdown and a seven-point game.
“The one to T.J. is disappointing — the second interception — because the ball got tipped, but had it not it would have been a touchdown and put us at (seven) points,” Hasselbeck said.
Hasselbeck said the final two interceptions, just like some of the ones he threw last week, were probably the result of him trying to force things to happen with his team trailing, and his coach agreed.
“I think he’s like a lot of us in that locker room,” Jim Mora said. “When you’re down, you’re a competitor, you’re desperate to win, sometimes you force some things that you shouldn’t. You just think, ‘I gotta make a play, I gotta make a play,’ and that frustration maybe gets the best of you at times.”
Hasselbeck did complete 6-of-6 attempts to lead the Seahawks to a fourth-quarter touchdown, but that was hardly any consolation.
“We’ve got to do that all the time,” he said. “We’ve got to do that to start games, and I’m at the center of that… . I need to figure it out.”
Seeing Hasselbeck struggle, it’s hard not to wonder if something might be wrong with him physically. The 34-year-old missed nine games last season with a back injury, missed two-and-a-half this season with two broken ribs, and has been bothered by shoulder problems on multiple occasions this season.
Mora admitted that Hasselbeck probably isn’t 100 percent — haven taken so many shots this year — but didn’t think that was the cause of these past two bad games. Hasselbeck was more direct when dismissing that idea.
“That’s not why I played poor this week and last week,” he said. “That’s not why.”
Hasselbeck’s recent struggles also put his future with the Seahawks even more in the spotlight. Hasselbeck has just one year left on his contract, and even before these past two games, the question of whether or not it is time for the Seahawks to draft his eventual replacement has hung over the season.
One of the biggest decisions the Seahawks will face this offseason is what they’ll do with the quarterback position moving forward, but that’s not something to worry about right now, Mora said.
“I’m not thinking that way right now,” Mora said. “I’m just thinking about trying to get on to the next game. I think that’s something you think about and talk about at the end of the season. I’m confident in Matt. I know that he’s not happy with his performance the last couple of weeks, but we’ll look at his body of work and see where we think he’s headed and talk to him, but that will come later.”
And oh yeah, Hasselbeck also broke a team record Sunday. Nearly lost in a second straight rough outing was the fact that Hasselbeck moved past Dave Krieg on the team’s career passing yardage list. Hasselbeck, who now has 26,258 yards as a Seahawk, is also the franchise leader for career completions and attempts, and ranks second to Krieg in touchdown passes.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
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