Q.  If the Seahawks don't have any receiving, and the OL is weak, is that your excuse for Hasselbeck?

A.  Definitely a weak WR corps can make it look, to 6 billion people on the planet, like the QB can't play.  Hey, if the receivers are covered ..... well, I play flag QB.

And Carroll's new philosophy is, take a sack, just don't throw picks.  Hasselbeck is forbidden from trying to thread needles.  And that's all he sees, many times.

Get you some separation, from the wideouts, and boom, Hasselbeck all of a sudden magically rediscovers himself

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Q.  Can Matt Hasselbeck even throw 50 yards any more?  Can he throw a 14-yard out?

A.  On this one, it really is important to stop and consider that NFL games are on Sundays.

The other days of the week, Pete Carroll stands behind* Matt Hasselbeck and watches him throw.  If Hass couldn't throw, he'd be out of there.

Ever watch a football practice, in which the QB honestly couldn't deliver a ball with authority?  The entire practice breaks down.

I think that Hasselbeck can still throw, basically, the balls that Joe Montana threw, even when Montana was younger.  And the same routes that Montana favored.

...........

Carroll has been convincing.  Hasselbeck is his guy.  Carroll is watching him in practice.

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Q.  You're not saying that Hasselbeck is as good as ever.

A.  Course not, but Hass has shown in 2 or 3 games that he can string a dozen real crisp passes.  He shows it in practice, obviously. 

And that means that a lot of the breakdowns are due to the protection and the separation from the wideouts.

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Q.  How come Branch and Housh didn't play well here?

A.  Not on the same page with Hasselbeck.  And not interested in becoming so.

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Q.  Would Moss be, then?

A.  My hope would be, gingerly, that he'd automatically be on the same page.

The 35-yard fly route down the sideline - Hass loves to throw it.  The down-and-in - same.  Or setting up a catch-and-run ... or a drag over the middle ...

Moss is a guy who will catch the ball in traffic, who has hands you can rely on, which is why guys like Williams, Carlson and Stokely get onto the same page with Hasselbeck quickly.

Could be wrong.  But the SSI guess is that Moss would lift Hasselbeck, not Hasselbeck drag down Moss.

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Hope we find out,

Dr D