Tough Hasselbeck gets up, leads Seahawks to victory

SEATTLE – For a few seconds, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck stayed on the Qwest Field turf, grimacing and gasping for breath.

Then, slowly, he rose. Nearby was the yellow flag dropped by referee Ed Hochuli, who tagged onrushing San Francisco 49ers linebacker Derek Smith with a personal foul for driving his helmet squarely into Hasselbeck’s sternum early in Sunday’s game.

The penalty, on a third-down pass attempt that fell incomplete, kept alive a Seattle drive that would eventually lead to a touchdown. For now, though, that was a scant consolation for Hasselbeck.

“I was trying to breathe,” he said. “I got the wind knocked out of me and I felt like I was drowning, except I wasn’t in water. I just couldn’t get any air.”

Quarterback may be football’s most glamorous position, but not in painful moments like this. Hasselbeck would have appreciated time to gather himself, but there was none. The penalty was stepped off, the Seahawks were back in the huddle and his teammates were looking for their leader to lead.

Hasselbeck did the only thing he could. He called the next play.

“That was quite a shot he took,” center Robbie Tobeck said. “But Matt’s tough and he just toughed it out.”

“He didn’t say anything,” added tackle Walter Jones. “He just got back up and continued to play ball.”

Did he ever. On a day the Seattle offense purred with precision, no one was more precise than Hasselbeck. With the deft touch of a surgeon, he dissected the San Francisco defense for 226 yards and four touchdowns, completing 21 of 25 passes in just the first three quarters of Seattle’s 41-3 victory.

His quarterback rating for the day was a terrific 127.2, easily surpassing his previous 2005 best of 115.1 vs. Atlanta on Sept. 18.

Such statistics are good fodder for fans, but among the Seahawks themselves nothing means more than a win that was the team’s ninth in a row. As many of their nearest NFC rivals continue to stumble – Chicago and Carolina were beaten on Sunday, Dallas a week ago – Seattle has risen to an 11-2 record that is two games better than any other conference foe.

Teams on long winning streaks always have many heroes, of course, but it is hard to minimize outstanding play at quarterback – even though Hasselbeck himself tried.

“I’m one guy,” he said with a shrug. “What’s great about our offense is that we’ve all been together for a long time. We know each other. We hold each other accountable. We kind of pick each other up. We also tend to make fun of each other, which is good. We keep it light, we keep it fun, but at the same time we know what our coaches expect of us.

“We work hard, we’re team guys, and most of all we care about the success of this team.”

His coaches and teammates, though, are quick to acknowledge the importance of Hasselbeck’s steady play this season.

“He’s playing really good,” Tobeck said. “I don’t know what his stats are yardage-wise or his quarterback rating, but he’s doing a great job of leading this offense. And that’s the key. When you look at a quarterback you can talk about a lot of things, but the guy is winning for us right now.

“Stats are great. But in a lot of those years when he was throwing for 300 yards a game, we were 8-8. I’d rather be 11-2 and have him throw for 150 yards a game if that’s what it takes.”

Added tight end Jerramy Stevens: “Winning games is what this is about. It’s not Matt’s job to put up 500 yards passing. It’s his job to lead us to victories. And we’ve got 11 of them under our belt right now, so I’d say he’s doing his job great.”

Among all the Seahawks, some of Hasselbeck’s biggest fans are, not surprisingly, his receivers. Bobby Engram, for instance, caught six passes for 65 yards and a pair of touchdowns on Sunday, giving him team-best season totals of 57 receptions for 640 yards.

“Everybody knows we kind of go as Matt goes,” said Engram, who has three TD catches in the past two games. “Everybody recognizes him as our leader.

“We just need to do enough around him with the running game and with us as receivers making plays to keep (the offense) rolling. He’s always been a tremendous talent, but I think this year you’re just seeing him put it together each week on the field.”