Seahawks’ Hasselbeck wants to end the season on positive note

Published 10:17 pm Thursday, December 31, 2009

RENTON — In a long season short of wins, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and the other Seattle Seahawks have a good reason to look forward to a new year.

But by a quirk of calendar, the year 2010 includes one final game from the 2009 season. And that happens Sunday, when the Seahawks host the Tennessee Titans at Qwest Field.

Although the game that doesn’t mean much of anything to anybody — save for Tennessee running back Chris Johnson, who could top 2,000 rushing yards and maybe set a single-season NFL record — the 5-10 Seahawks will still try to feel good for one day before heading into an offseason of some and perhaps many changes.

If Seattle can beat the Titans, Hasselbeck said, “it’s not necessarily going to cure all our issues, but it’s going to feel good. It’d be a real nice thing.”

And feeling good would be particularly nice for Hasselbeck, who hasn’t had much to feel good about in recent weeks.

Seattle has suffered successive one-sided losses against Houston, Tampa Bay and Green Bay, and in the two most recent defeats Hasselbeck played poorly. In a 24-7 loss to the Buccaneers on Dec. 20, he completed 27-of-46 passes for 256 yards with a touchdown, but had four interceptions and a lost fumble. Against Green Bay last Sunday, he was 19-for-37 for 198 yards and a touchdown, but with another four interceptions.

The urgency of getting a win for the Seahawks collectively and Hasselbeck personally?

“I can’t imagine it could be any greater,” he acknowledged. “It’s always important and you always want to play your best, especially at home. But given how the season has gone, I think it’s just more important to go out, play your best and get a win. That’s the biggest thing. Get a win.”

With his nine turnovers in two games, Hasselbeck has been an obvious target for criticism from fans and media. And that’s because “he’s the quarterback, so he takes a lot of the credit when things are going well and the responsibility when things aren’t going well,” said Seahawks head coach Jim Mora.

Of course, no one has been harder on the Seattle quarterback than Hasselbeck himself.

On Thursday, he again wondered if he is “maybe just trying to do too much,” and he reminded himself “that it’s OK, despite what it feels like, to punt.”

“As a quarterback,” he went on, “there’s a fine line between cutting it loose and making plays, and also being careless and forcing things and being desperate with the ball. You really have to protect it, and when you let it go, you have to let it go confidently or it’s not going to work.

“You can’t go out there and play timid or scared either. You have to be aggressive and at the same time be smart.”

Based on the team’s recent offensive struggles, the Seahawks have a somewhat modified game plan for Sunday’s game. According to offensive coordinator Greg Knapp, Seattle will try to correct its scoring slump — just a single touchdown in each of the past three games — by “kind of going back to basics.”

Rather than seeking to be explosive offensively, Knapp explained, “this week’s game plan has been based on some of the success we’ve had.”

In an earlier game against Detroit, for example, the Seahawks utilized a controlled passing attack, using short and intermediate routes “to protect the football and move down the field methodically,” he said.

“So that’s going to be our intention this week. Take the profit and move on, and let’s not try to force the issue. … What are the things that we’ve done well (this season)? Let’s just do what we do well and work on our basics.”