RENTON — Matt Hasselbeck is back, and while he may not be any better than he was two weeks ago, he almost certainly returns as a slightly more appreciated quarterback.
One of the old cliches in football is that the most popular player is the backup quarterback, and that has certainly been true at times this season. The Seahawks traded for Charlie Whitehurst in the offseason then signed him to a two-year contract, and few things intrigue fans more than a new, strong-armed quarterback.
So any time Hasselbeck has struggled this season, there have been calls for a change at quarterback. When Hasselbeck suffered a concussion against Oakland on Oct. 31, Whitehurst got his chance — albeit with the deck stacked against him thanks to injuries and a tough opponent. Against New York last week, Whitehurst completed 12 of 23 passes for 113 yards and two interceptions, good for a quarterback rating of 44.3.
And it’s way, way too early to say that Whitehurst never will be a good quarterback in the NFL, but it’s hard to argue that Hasselbeck doesn’t give the Seahawks the best chance to win right now, which should the Seahawks goal considering they are tied for first place halfway through the season.
“I think Charlie will grow enormously from his experience and will be better for it and all of that,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “But Matt’s been our guy and that’s where we’re going.”
Hasselbeck has been far from perfect — he has seven interceptions compared to six touchdowns — but he also has shown the ability to coax scoring drives out of an offense that has struggled for most of the season.
“He’s played a lot of football games, he understands the system and he’s definitely getting better every week,” offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates said. “… He’s had a good week of practice, and yeah, we’re excited.”
For Hasselbeck, who missed two games last year with broken ribs, and nine games in 2008 with a back injury, another injury setback was difficult, particularly considering how much the team struggled last week.
“It was tough,” he said. “I think it was tough even for the guys that played. We really just didn’t play our best, so it wasn’t easy. It’s never easy, especially a home game, missing out. I think that adds to the excitement that I have right now to get back this week.”
While Hasselbeck won’t admit it, the second half of this season is big for him. Hasslebeck is 35 and in the final year of his contract, and with the addition of Whitehurst in the offseason, his future with Seattle is in question. Play well over the next eight games, however, and he will make the decision a very difficult one for Carroll and general manager John Schneider.
The short-term concern for Hasselbeck and the Seahawks, however, is improving an offense that ranks 30th in total offense and 31st in scoring.
“I think we’re just trying to find our identity still a little bit,” Hasselbeck said. “Some games we’re pretty good, some games we’re not good at all, some games we’re really, really good on third-down, other games we’re terrible on third-down, and so we just got to keep plugging away, keep improving and we’ll be OK. We’ve got to do that though, we’ve got to improve. We can’t take steps backward.”
And for an offense that has managed just 324 yards in its past two games, getting its quarterback back will be a step in the right direction.
“In this league, when people go down, you need people to step up and play, but when you have your guys in, it’s one of those things where you know things are going to get rolling; you don’t have to press,” center Chris Spencer said.
“When things aren’t going your way, you can start to press and you start doing things out of the norm. So (getting Hasselbeck back) should help us get back in the mode of doing what coach Carroll preaches to us all the time, which is just, ‘Do your job. We’re not asking you to do something extraordinary.’”
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
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