KIRKLAND – He played most of his final high school game despite a concussion and spent the first three years of his NFL career backing up the indestructible Brett Favre in Green Bay, so Matt Hasselbeck thought he knew all there was to know about playing hurt.
But recently the Seattle Seahawks’ quarterback is gaining a new perspective into the concept of fighting through pain.
Hasselbeck, who twice came out of Sunday’s win over Arizona due to shoulder and ankle injuries, had a talk with coach Mike Holmgren this week about avoiding injuries. There is a time and a place for putting yourself at risk, Holmgren asserted, and a balance between playing hurt and playing when you’re injured.
Still feeling the effects of the injuries as well as a flu-like virus, Hasselbeck will gut it out this Saturday when the Seahawks go to San Francisco for a key game with the 49ers. While Hasselbeck maintains that he has mistakenly played through too much pain in the past, this is the kind of game that leaves no room for suffering.
“I’m looking at it like this is the last game, and we have to do whatever it takes to win. After that, we’ll see where we are,” Hasselbeck said. “If anybody’s hurt or anything at all, there’s nothing to save it for.
“This is a game we need to win. All hands on deck; let’s just go out and play. Everybody. And if you get hurt more, so what?”
Playing hurt is nothing new to Hasselbeck. In addition to his final game at Xaverian Brothers High School in Massachusetts, Hasselbeck has played in his share of NFL games with lingering injuries.
While backing up Favre, who has fought through everything from a hernia to a broken thumb during an ongoing NFL record of 188 consecutive starts, Hasselbeck was taught to develop a high threshold for pain.
“I probably learned the wrong stuff,” he admitted this week. “I learned that if you could walk, you should play. And if you couldn’t walk, you should really try to play. I tried that my first year (in Seattle), and that was the wrong thing.
“I tried to do that, and I didn’t play at a high level. I watched him (Favre) do it, and it seems like he plays at higher level when he’s hurt. I’ve just got to let Brett be Brett.”
Playing through injuries to his groin and non-throwing shoulder, Hasselbeck struggled during the 2001 season, when he threw seven touchdown passes and eight interceptions in 12 games as the Seahawks’ starter. His play left so many unanswered questions that the Seahawks opted to give Trent Dilfer the starting job heading into 2002.
“His first year here, when he was getting all the boos, he was really, really hurt,” offensive lineman Robbie Tobeck said of Hasselbeck. “He’ll fight through some stuff. He’s fought through some things and hasn’t used injuries or anything as an excuse. That’s really the sign of a leader.”
This week, Hasselbeck got a lecture from Holmgren about avoiding injuries. He hurt his ankle last week on a play in which he tried to dump a ball off despite being wrapped up by a defensive lineman.
“He’s tall and lanky, and he’s kind of a big target sometimes,” Holmgren told reporters Thursday. “And I think sometimes, in an effort to make a play, he puts himself in a vulnerable position. Like last week. He’s spinning around, that’s how he hurt his ankle, and he really doesn’t need to do those things. He needs to be smart to last. And he’s learning that.”
Hasselbeck has also learned to differentiate between the injuries that cause pain and the ones that will affect his play. He’s not the kind to come out of a game due to a hangnail, either. Hasselbeck’s toughness is unquestioned in the Seattle locker room.
He earned his teammates respect again Sunday, when he showed up at Seahawks Stadium feeling under the weather and limped out of it with a myriad of bumps and bruises. He re-injured a torn labrum in his left shoulder during the first half, yet returned to the game after missing just two offensive plays. He later twisted the ankle and took the rest of the day off, in part because the Seahawks had a big lead in the second half.
Hasselbeck missed only one day of practice this week and is expected to start against the 49ers.
“He’s a soldier,” wide receiver Koren Robinson said. “That just shows how bad he wants to help us win. He wants to play.
“Whatever he can do to get on that field, he’s going to do. He’s that type of person. I appreciate him for that, and I know everybody else appreciates him for that. As you’ve seen, he’s the leader of this team, and we go as far as he’ll take us.”
Hasselbeck’s injuries from the Arizona game healed up well enough by mid-week for him to proclaim himself ready to play.
“I really do feel good,” he said Wednesday. “I feel like going into (Saturday’s) game, no injuries will be a distraction. I don’t think I’ll be playing tentative or anything.”
The fact that he’ll be playing at all might come as a surprise to some. But not to those who know Hasselbeck well.
“He’s setting the example,” Tobeck said. “It shows how important that (Arizona) game was, to him and to the team. He was going to fight through some things and get back in the game.
“Our trainers do a good job of getting guys ready to play, and I expect him to have a great game on Saturday.”
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