KIRKLAND – While most of the Seattle Seahawks will be making their first trip to a Super Bowl, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck has been there before.
Not as a player, but as a son. Hasselbeck’s father, Don, played in Super Bowl XVIII with the Los Angeles Raiders.
“It was a dream-come-true,” Matt Hasselbeck said of attending that game in Tampa, Fla., as an 8-year-old. “I remember being at that game. I remember when he blocked a kick in that game. It’s probably one of my favorite memories of all time.”
Matt Hasselbeck is one of 48 players on the Seahawks’ current 53-man roster who have never played in a Super Bowl. Just wide receiver Joe Jurevicius (with Tampa Bay), defensive tackle Chartric Darby (with Tampa Bay), center Robbie Tobeck (with Atlanta), defensive end Grant Wistrom (with St. Louis) and punter Tom Rouen (with Denver) have Super Bowl participation on their resumes.
Coach Mike Holmgren, who also has Super Bowl experience, said those players would address the team at some point this week.
“I remember my time in Green Bay, we only had two: (wide receiver) Don Beebe and (flamboyant quarterback) Jim McMahon,” Holmgren said Monday, referring to his days as head coach of the Packers. “If I had to pick two players at the opposite end of the spectrum, you had Don Beebe and Jim McMahon. And they talked as you might expect them to talk.”
Injury update: Holmgren said that wide receiver Bobby Engram (hip) and middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu (mild concussion) would be limited in practices this week but should be available for the game.
Engram suffered the injury early in the second half of Sunday’s game and did not return.
Tatupu was woozy after a helmet-on-helmet collision with Panthers running back Nick Goings late in the first quarter but stayed in the game. By the fourth quarter, he came off the field. It was uncertain whether Tatupu suffered further significant damage after the play involving Goings.
“To his credit,” Holmgren said of Tatupu, “I think it was good that (the Panthers) had to pass the ball a lot in the second half and he didn’t have to get up in there too much.”
Ungrateful celebration: In the wee hours of the morning after he helped lead the Seahawks to an NFC championship title, running back Shaun Alexander was doing yeoman’s work.
The NFL MVP had to clean his house by himself after hosting a few friends late Sunday night.
“It was pretty much a big old party, and they had a good time,” Alexander said. “Then everybody left and I cleaned up the house. I love my wife (Valerie), but she was knocked out. I was cleaning at about two o’clock in the morning.”
Big game experience: The Seahawks may have a secret weapon this week in the form of vice president Gary Wright.
A member of the Seahawks’ front office since the team’s 1976 inception, Wright has spent the past 19 seasons working as media relations director for the Super Bowl. So despite the team’s lack of Super Bowl experience, Wright will make sure the Seahawks players know what to expect next week.
“Gary Wright runs the Super Bowl, practically, every year,” Hasselbeck said. “… I feel like we’re really prepared. And (CEO) Tod Leiweke spoke to the team and just said: ‘Basically, we’re going to take care of everything so you guys can take care of football.’”
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