GREEN BAY, Wisc. – The question was where to go, what to do. Not to mention how to feel.
As more than 70,000 fans that used to cheer his name celebrated in pandemonium, Matt Hasselbeck’s first reaction was to walk away. The Seattle Seahawks’ quarterback, facing a Green Bay Packers team that once employed him, had just thrown an interception that resulted in the game-winning touchdown of a 33-27 overtime loss.
He headed for the Seahawks’ sideline, if only by instinct, and watched mournfully while Packers players piled into the south end zone. Hasselbeck’s teammates briskly headed the other direction, not so much to avoid him as to get out of the temperatures that were well below freezing.
Soon he was standing alone, no one within earshot, wondering what to do next. Hasselbeck looked up toward the sky, let out a groan, and put his hands on his hips. He rubbed his face as he wandered to the middle of the field, then stood amid loneliness again as he waited for other players to arrive for the traditional post-game prayer.
And finally they came. His Seattle teammates, still in shock, gave only empty glances. It was the Green Bay players, many of whom knew Hasselbeck when he was a Packer, that extended their arms.
Kicker Ryan Longwell gave him a hug and a few quick words. Punter Josh Bidwell patted Hasselbeck on the back and whispered some sort of encouragement. Other players, sometimes two at a time, began offering hugs. Packers fullback William Henderson held Hasselbeck the longest, looking him in the eye and speaking as he let go.
After each player left, Hasselbeck looked lost. He eventually knelt for prayer, then held his hands over his face as he walked off the grass at Lambeau Field. Inside the Seattle locker room, his teammates finally offered him words of encouragement.
“You can’t really say anything to him,” receiver Koren Robinson said when the media was finally allowed inside the locker room. “Just, ‘Good game, and we’ll get them next year.’ He’s a great quarterback. He’s our general, regardless. Win, lose or draw, we’re going to follow him.”
Across the way, where Packers players dressed, Hasselbeck was also the subject of sympathetic conversation.
“I could just let him know that I appreciate him for all his efforts,” Henderson said, “and I’ve always appreciated him for the way he’s handled himself.”
Hasselbeck was an unlikely goat in Sunday’s playoff game, and not just because of the way players from both teams eventually embraced him. In what was the first postseason appearance of his career, Hasselbeck put on an impressive performance for more than 60 minutes, showing a national television audience just how far he’s come.
“The thing that I’m so proud of him for, and the thing I thought the nation saw today, is he really played physically and mentally tough today,” backup quarterback Trent Dilfer said. “In the course of the 21 weeks that we’ve played football, he’s light years in his mental and physical toughness.
“We talk about (Tennessee quarterback) Steve McNair being a warrior, and he is, but this guy can fall into that category now, too. He made that jump into being one of the tough guys in this league. To me, that’s the biggest jump you can make.”
Hasselbeck played through adversity, illness and injuries this season, but never hung his head too long. Maybe that’s why he refused to feel sorry for himself after Sunday’s loss.
“Obviously,” he offered, “I would love to have that one back.”
Despite the interception that Al Harris returned 52 yards for the game-winning touchdown, Hasselbeck had a pretty productive game. He completed 25 of 45 passes for 305 yards while helping a seven-point underdog push the Packers to overtime.
His numbers could have been even better if not for a pass that Robinson dropped on his way to the end zone and two other throws that receivers caught in the end zone, only to land with one foot out of bounds.
All of Hasselbeck’s success was overshadowed in his own mind by the play that cost the Seahawks the game.
“What hurts is that I had the ball in my hands, and I could have done something different, and we don’t lose that game,” he said. “I could have thrown the ball away. I could have seen (Harris). I don’t know. But it hurts right now. I’m not exactly sure how it all went down.”
Hasselbeck audibled on the game-winning play, getting out of what coach Mike Holmgren called a “safe” pass play to a call that had a more shallow quarterback drop. Sensing a blitz, Hasselbeck switched to a play in which receiver Alex Bannister was supposed to get the ball in one-on-one coverage from Harris.
Hasselbeck took a three-step drop, threw quickly to his left, and Harris broke at the perfect time. He ran untouched for the overtime touchdown, clinching a Green Bay win.
“I threw a hitch to the left side, and Al Harris either recognized it or studied us really well or cheated,” Hasselbeck said. “I don’t know what he did. But he made a big play.”
Harris said that the Packers had seen that audible on film, so he anticipated the play Hasselbeck was going to call.
“Basically, we knew it was coming,” Harris said. “They played right to it.”
After a year that saw Hasselbeck fight through a torn labrum, a hip pointer and two bouts with the flu, the 28-year-old quarterback finally reached the end of his first 16-game season as starter.
As has been the case so many times, he was asked what hurt following another game in which he got bruised and beaten.
“Just my feelings right now,” he said.
And then the quarterback walked back into the locker room, alone again. Left with only his thoughts and another long offseason.
“He’ll be fine,” Dilfer said. “He’ll stew, but this offseason it will motivate him, and he’ll be a better player because of it.”
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