Matt Hasselbeck’s Profile at Pro-Football-Reference

Matt Hasselbeck @ Jockbio.com

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Tight-Lipped

In the history of bad predictions, a few stand out. There’s everybody who has said every year in the past five years that Brett Favre will retire. Then there’s Alex Marvez, of Fox Sports, who predicted before last season that the Steelers would be the “most over-rated” team in the NFL while Detroit will be the “most under-rated” team (holy yin and yang).  And then there’s Matt Hasselbeck, who before the 2007 NFC Championship Game at Lambeau Field, won the overtime coin-toss and fatefully said, “We want the ball, and we’re gonna score!” Well, we know how that played out. Hasselbeck’s first throw went for a touchdown… to Green Bay.  Game, Set, Match, Season.



In the history of retribution, this has got to rank #1:



Hasselbeck has never been short on confidence and guts.  At his freshman orientation at Boston College, he (the son of strict, Christian parents and not much of a partier in high school) trained his eyes and interest on the most attractive girl in the group, sat next to her and copied her class schedule verbatim (one that included calculus, philosophy and accounting), and wound up wedding… and bedding… her.  We’re not sure in what order. 

Wings Clipped

Since Hasselbeck became a full-time starter with the Seahawks, he has developed this annoying habit of getting injured every other year, and each time is worse than before. He missed only two games with a minor injury in 2004, but in 2006 he missed five games after spraining his MCL and breaking fingers in his non-throwing hand, and last season, he missed nine games due to a bulging disk in his back that damaged his nerves in his lower body and caused another knee injury; he also missed time due to an injury suffered from a helmet-to-helmet collision. 

In his healthy years, and even those not so healthy ones, Hasselbeck has been a top 10 NFL QB. In 2005, when he led the Seahawks to the Super Bowl and was named to his 2nd of three Pro Bowl teams, he had a 65.5 completion percentage, while throwing for 3,459 yards, 24 TDs and only nine INTs. And in 2007, his last Pro-Bowl appearance and last full season played, he had a 62.2 completion percentage while throwing for 3,966 yards (a career high), 28 TDs (another career high) and 12 picks. His yards per attempt was a respectable 7.1.

2009 Fantasy Outlook

So, which Matt Hasselbeck will show up in 2009?  History suggests the Pro-Bowl QB (he made it in ’03, ’05, and ’07, so this is his year).  Hasselbeck has not had the best WRs to work with over the years, but that changes with the addition of T. J. Houshmandzadeh. Before the first snap of this season, T. J. becomes the best target Matt has worked with in his career as a Seahawk.   TE John Carlson will blossom this year but won’t be leading the team in receptions and yards again.

Hasselbeck will be playing in a run-heavy offensive scheme under new head coach Jim Mora Jr. and OC Greg Knapp.  Knapp runs more than he passes, but has not recently had the luxury of a signal caller of Hasselbeck’s ilk.  Most recently, Knapp has worked with Andrew Walter, Daunte Culpepper, Michael Vick, and Marquis Tuisasapopo (not sure we spelled that right); we’d run more, too.  He has the benefit of playing against the defensively challenged NFC West, against which he averaged 259 yards per game and threw 12 TDs and four INTs in 2007.  He turns 34 by about the third week of the season but, according to GM Tim Ruskell, he looks better than he has in four years.  Housh and Hasselbeck looked like they’ve been playing together for years in OTAs.  This all said, I'd be nervous with Hasselbeck as my starter given his age.  He remains a top backup or poor man's starter in 2009.