SEATTLE – After sitting out four games with a sprained right knee, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck wanted to make an impact during a snowy Monday night game against the Green Bay Packers.
Indeed he did, although most of it was bad in the early minutes at Qwest Field.
Hasselbeck tossed two interceptions in the first quarter, another on the opening play of the second period, and then handed the Packers a touchdown minutes later when he fumbled into the hands of oncoming linebacker Abdul Hodge, who rambled untouched for 29 yards to the end zone.
Not even halftime, and already four Hasselbeck turnovers. He may not have expected an All-Pro performance after a long absence, but neither did he expect this.
Lying on the stadium turf after the fumble for a Green Bay touchdown, “I was thinking, ‘I can’t believe that just happened.’ It was almost like a bad dream,” Hasselbeck said. “That’s probably the longest I’ve ever laid on the turf.
“I probably would have laid there longer but it was freezing cold and wet.”
Still, for all his early miscues, the Seahawks went to the halftime locker room trailing just 14-12. And in the second half they rallied – largely because Hasselbeck got untracked – for a 34-24 victory.
It happened because Hasselbeck acted like a leader, giving himself the same advice he has often offered to teammates who have made costly mistakes.
“Say a guy drops a couple of passes,” he said, “and I pump him up and say, ‘Hey, keep your head up, the ball’s going to come your way, we still need you in this game.’ Well, I’m not going to preach that to one guy and then not do it myself. So I just tried to stay positive.
“My demeanor and body language speaks volumes to my teammates,” he said. Not only to the other offensive players, but “to our defense, our special teams, to everybody. … As bad as it was (in the first half) – and it was bad, because I had four turnovers all by myself, one for a touchdown – I tried to keep reminding myself, ‘Hey, stay with it.’
“Bad stuff is going to happen. You just have to respond,” said Hasselbeck, who had not played since being injured in an Oct. 22 game against Minnesota.
In the second half, Hasselbeck was a completely different quarterback. After the Seahawks yielded an early third-quarter touchdown to fall behind 21-12, they went on to outscore Green Bay 22-3 the rest of the way, courtesy of Hasselbeck touchdown passes on three consecutive possessions.
The momentum began to turn midway through the third period when Hasselbeck guided Seattle on a 10-play, 62-yard TD drive, with the final 23 yards coming on a scoring strike to leaping wide receiver D.J. Hackett.
Minutes later, after a Green Bay punt, the Seahawks were off on another march, this one covering 77 yards in 10 plays, with Hasselbeck throwing a 4-yard TD pass to wide receiver Darrell Jackson. Seattle went for a two-point conversion, and Hasselbeck linked with tight end Jerramy Stevens for the PAT.
That put the Seahawks on top 27-21, and they stayed there the rest of the way.
The clinching touchdown came on the team’s next possession, another prolonged march of 51 yards on 11 plays. The last 3 yards came on a dandy pass to Stevens over the middle.
Hasselbeck’s early woes were probably due “to the fact that he hasn’t played,” Seattle coach Mike Holmgren said. “He was a little rusty.
“His rust showed where he was kind of focusing in on his receiver a little too much instead of using his eyes to work people off,” Holmgren added. “But that comes back rather quickly. Matt did a much better job of that in the second half.”
Did Hasselbeck chalk up his woeful first half to rust?
“Some of it was that,” he admitted. “Some of it was bad bounces and some of it was sloppy. But I feel fortunate that we were still in the game. It’s unusual to have that many turnovers and not be getting blown out. But you have to move on and hope you get other chances to make plays.
“I tried to give all I had today, and I think that’s all I had,” he added. “There was going to be some bad stuff and I knew that. But to be honest, I’m surprised it went as well as it did, health-wise. And the knee’s good. The slippery conditions probably helped it in that it wasn’t very grippy out there. So I was very pleasantly surprised with how it did.”
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