Goodbye Matt Hasselbeck, You will be Missed

Back in 2001 the Seattle Seahawks traded for a bald, slightly pudgy, non-athletic looking back up QB from Green Bay named Matt Hasselbeck. With only two unremarkable seasons as Brett Favre’s backup in Green Bay to go on, Hasselbeck appeared to be mediocre at best. The fans had mixed feeling about his future with the Seahawks. After two consecutive mediocre seasons, as the Seahawks starting QB, a still bald, slightly pudgy, non-athletic looking Hasselbeck appeared to be in the decline of his career. The 12th man had mixed feelings about his future as the Seahawks starter. Then, on July 26th 2011, the Seahawks parted ways with Matt Hasselbeck.

Looking only at the beginning and end of Matt Hasselbeck’s career with the Seahawks a lot of similarities can be seen. Looking at these ends, someone not familiar with the Seahawks would probably view Matt Hasselbeck as a rather unremarkable NFL passer. They would probably wonder what all the fuss over a mediocre talent leaving is about. However, like any good story, by skipping the middle they would be missing out on a lot of really good stuff.

During his 10 seasons in Seattle Matt Hasselbeck accomplished more at the QB position than any other player in the Franchise’s history (except maybe Dave Kreig). He had three Pro-Bowls seasons. The best of these was 2005 when he threw for 3459 yds, 24 td and only 9 int all good for a 98.2 QB rating. He set the all-time passing yards records for the Seahawks with 29434 yds. In more recent seasons, he provide a sense of stability to a Seahawks offense whose personnel was often in flux. Just knowing that number 8 would be under center provided many Seahawks fans with a feeling that we had a chance in any game. Most importantly, he led the team to six playoff berths, including the magically 2005 Super Bowl run.

For someone like me who didn't start actively following the Seahawks until around 2003, Matt Hasselbeck is really the only QB we have seen. Sure, guys like Trent Dilfer and Seneca Wallace started a few games, but for the vast majority of the snaps Matt Hasselbeck lined up under center. His prevalence during my football watching existence had a huge impact on me as a fan. During that time he taught me exactly what a quality west coast passer should look like. Through his actions both on and off the field he presents an example of a sports star that was both humble and confident. A delicate balance that is very rare in the modern sports world. He showed me what good sportsmanship looks like and made me want that from all my athletes. For all these contributions my sports fan life I thank him.

Goodbye Matt Hasselbeck, you will be missed.

Source: Yahoo Sports