As we probably should have expected, Carroll was vague, to say the least, about who will be his starting quarterback on Saturday. Will it be starter Matt Hasselbeck, who missed last week’s game with a hip/buttock injury, or Charlie Whitehurst, who led the Seahawks to a win over St. Louis? If Carroll has made up his mind, he’s not saying:
“Yesterday the quarterbacks split time like we said. Matt looked solid, he had a really strong day. Charlie’s a little banged up from the game, but they both made it through the practice and they’ll both be available for us at game time. At this point there’s no reason to say anything more about it from my perspective. You may think so.”
Do you have to see Hasselbeck is fully healthy before you make the decision?
“That would be good.”
Is he fully healthy?
“I don’t know that yet. He’s fully healthy in terms of what the demands of practice have presented for him. He looked great yesterday. We’re not going to hit him in practice, we’re not going to know that. He is running around and moving, so he was able to do everything that we asked of him yesterday.”
If Hasselbeck is fully healthy, is he the guy?
“We’ll find out.”
Will it go to game time like last week?
“I don’t know that. We’ll leave it open, we’ll figure it out. . . I want to get all the days in here, each day is important for us to see how we’re doing, to see how Charlie is doing and just figure out where it is. I feel very comfortable with what we’re doing as far as their turns and reps. Both the quarterbacks are just as dead into this as they can be and we’ll have them both available. Both are going to be ready to play the football game, so that’s good and we’ll figure out who is going to start in a little bit.”
So do you know who is going to start and you’re just not telling us?
“You’ll never know.”
Will they split reps all week?
“We’re going to do it today. Just one day at a time.”
How much does the way Whitehurst play last week factor into the decision?
“Certainly it does. Charlie came out a winner in a championship opportunity, that was a great accomplishment for the second start in the NFL for him, so that’s a great accomplishment for Charlie. It adds to all of our opinions and expectations of what he’s capable of doing. Sure, it helps.”
Doesn’t conventional wisdom say Matt should start if healthy?
“I don’t know conventional. I’m not too good at that. If you’re a conventional wisdom kind of guy, I guess so.”
How much does Matt’s playoff experience factor into the decision?
“It factors, yeah, it factors. And it’s a factor that Matt also played well against these guys and has played against this coordinator before.”
So there you have it. Looks like we could be playing this game all the way until kickoff for the second straight week. Good times.
A few non QB notes. . .
RT Sean Locklear is away from the team dealing with a family issue, Carroll said. Locklear is expected to return and be able to play Saturday, but for now Stacy Andrews is taking the first-team reps at RT.
WR Brandon Stokley (concussion) should return to practice this week and has a shot to play after missing last week’s game.
“He’s made it through, as far as I know ,the bulk of his testing, so he should get a little bit of work today and a lot of work tomorrow, and might be available for us come game time, so that’s a good thing for us,” Carroll said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
