KIRKLAND – Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck has been known to give his Seattle Seahawks offensive linemen coolers filled with meat following games in which they’ve provided him with exceptional protection.
Maybe the Seattle receivers would be wise to start showering Hasselbeck with gifts of his own. Call it a little incentive for sending the ball their way.
“Maybe I’ve got to find out his favorite restaurant or something,” wide receiver Bobby Engram said. “I saw somewhere that he really likes a certain kind of ice cream, so maybe I’ll have to chip in and have some shipped up here.”
That would be Graeter’s, a chain in Cincinnati that serves a flavor of chocolate chip that Hasselbeck can’t resist.
But Engram needn’t bother. Not even bribery can guarantee a spot as Hasselbeck’s go-to receiver.
In Seattle’s offense, success often is directly related to how evenly the ball is distributed. That’s part of the reason the Seahawks, who feature four players with between 32 and 38 receptions, have a 7-3 record this season.
“Matt is doing a nice job of spreading the ball around,” coach Mike Holmgren said. “And our record is better, which is the measuring stick. I’m not complaining about too much right now.”
Darrell Jackson leads the team with 38 receptions, but his place at the top of the receiving chart is subject to change on a weekly basis. Koren Robinson is one reception behind him, at 37, following by Engram’s 33 and running back Shaun Alexander’s 32.
Tight end Itula Mili, after a slow start in which he caught just five passes over the first three games, has been a bigger part of the offense lately and has 24 receptions this season.
Even seldom-used fullback Mack Strong has gotten involved in the offense in an unprecedented fashion. Strong’s 17 receptions put him on pace to shatter his personal high of 23 in a season, while he already has 100 rushing yards for only the second time in his 11-year career.
“He is like Barney Fife and Andy Griffith with the one bullet,” Holmgren said of Strong. “Mack has one play. Then he did well with that one play, so I said, OK, I will give you another play. Now I think he has four plays.”
The offensive distribution works to Seattle’s advantage. Although Holmgren admitted this week that he would prefer to have a go-to guy a la Jerry Rice or Sterling Sharpe, the balanced offense makes it more difficult for opposing defenses to game plan.
“There are times when teams take away a player, but then you just go on to the next guy,” Seahawks offensive coordinator Gil Haskell said. “To say (spreading the ball around) is done on purpose? No. That’s just the offense. To say that this week I’m throwing to Koren Robinson or Darrell Jackson and next week to the tight end? It doesn’t happen that way.”
Quarterbacks coach Jim Zorn has seen both extremes. When he was a player for the Seahawks in the 1970s and early ’80s, Zorn’s main focus was to get the ball to future Hall of Famer Steve Largent. The star receiver made Zorn’s job look easy in that he caught nearly every ball thrown his way, but defenses were able to design schemes around taking Largent away.
In the current Seahawks offense, defenses can’t focus on double-teaming one weapon because it might mean they get hurt by another.
“If you’re going to take a receiver out, you can’t come with a lot of blitz,” Zorn said. “The other thing you can’t do is double everybody else. So what are you going to do? Are you going to cover Bobby Engram one-on-one? Go for it. Are you going to cover Darrell Jackson one-on-one? Do it.”
Said Engram: “It’s difficult (for a defense) because we’ve got so many people who can make plays one-on-one. It’s like, pick your poison.”
Not only do just five receptions separate the Seahawks’ top three wide receivers, but the distribution can also be found when looking at the leading receivers over the past eight games. Alexander has led twice, Robinson twice, Jackson twice and Engram twice.
“Everybody wants to have all the catches, go to the Pro Bowl and all that,” Robinson said. “But when you’re in a situation such as myself, Bobby, D-Jack and all the tight ends and running backs, you know you’re not going to get those 100 or 115 balls or whatever because there are a lot of skill players around you. … You can’t be selfish, and it all works.”
Hasselbeck said he’s not really cognizant of spreading the ball around, but that it happens naturally in Seattle’s version of the West Coast offense.
“Really, what I try to do is just let (the coaches) handle that side of it,” Hasselbeck said. “They can call a play if they want a certain guy to get the ball. I just go through my reads and don’t worry about it.”
Yeah, he says that now. But perhaps a gallon of chocolate chip ice cream could entice him to pay more attention.
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