Lincoln said that about General Grant during the Civil War, but it should now be the mantra of the entire Seahawks organization and fan base regarding Matt Hasselbeck. His stat line was not impressive today: 22/38 for 287 yards and a pick. But just in maintaining some sembelance of an offensive attack while absorbing brutal punishment for 60 minutes, he proved his value to this franchise. For everyone on the "dump Hass" bandwagon, I hope your little cart of pessimism careens into a ditch filled with broken glass and used hypodermic needles. For everyone who thinks that Hass is too old at 33, check this action:
Kerry Collins: Age 35
Brett Favre: Age 39
Kurt Warner: Age 37
Yeah, none of those old fucks are MVP candidates this year are they?
So now the Seahawks are staring down their worst season since 1992, and it's time to start thinking about preserving their most precious resource: An elite QB with a lot of gas left in the tank. As we move into the Mora era, no player is as irreplacable as Matt Hasselbeck.
Anyone who fails to see that is an ignorant fool. End of line.
6 comments:
couldn't agree more. nice post.
yup, the only seahawk player giving 100% for the whole 60 minutes and he was getting completely punished the whole way through. got kinda hard to watch
Amen, brother. Personally, Hass should sit out the rest of the season on IR and get healed up for next year. He's okay when he's hurt, but stellar when he's 100%. What really cements his passion for this team and city is back in the Giants game when he got hurt, but kept playing. He looked like the only one still giving it his all at the end of that game.
A voice of reason...thank you.
Yung Hawk
No question. This man is Mr. Seahawk. He has years of good playing left.
If we had 22 guys like him, we'd be undefeated.
It's probably inevitable, thought unfortunate, that once your team goes in the tank and your middle aged quarterback gets injured and then looks rusty coming back that there is going to be some sentiment from fans that he's done. It's the consequence of living in an era of the internet, 24 hour sports talk radio and SportsCenter.
You won't get any argument from me that Hass has some gas left in the tank, and that the contribution he's made to the team deserves respect. The bigger issue, I think, is whether this is just a one year hiccup or if the Hawks are in rebuilding mode. I can draw an analogy as a Seattle sports fan to the Mariners. The M's had their golden age in the mid '90s to the early '00s. Towards the end of that time, they had a choice as to whether they were going to start building for the future. Instead, they kept sending out 'Gar, Danny Wilson, etc. And the fans loved those guys. But the result was that the team wasted years playing .500 baseball or below, and they're still trying to recover. (And yes, I realize that it's more complicated than that, but not too much more, imho.)
So, again, if the Hawks can reload with this team and get back into the playoffs, then I think keeping Hass is the right decision. If we can't...I guess one way to look at this is that maybe we owe Hass the same thing we gave Trent Dilfer; a chance to close out his career on a contender rather than (a) absorbing punishment for a sub-.500 team or (b) carrying a clipboard while Sam Bradford learns how to become an NFL quarterback.
My heart tells me you're exactly right. My brain isn't so sure, unfortunately.
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