Tag Archives: Matt Hasselbeck

Solution to Darnold’s mistakes: ‘Listen to my feet’

November 21, 2025 cc 1 Comment

At this point, there is only one nagging question that needs to be answered before we can definitively declare the Seahawks a Super Bowl contender: Will Sam Darnold learn from his mistakes against the Rams so he avoids that kind of disaster game the rest of the season?

As we said on Twitter/X, if Darnold had just played his “normal” game, throwing even two interceptions, the Hawks would have won.

Has he learned to do that, even in the face of strong defenses? The proof will come in the final month, when he and the Hawks face the Colts, Rams, Panthers and 49ers to finish the season.

For now, we have to take some solace in the fact that Darnold at least is able to articulate why he threw four interceptions in the 21-19 loss last Sunday.

Continue reading →

NFL draft, The roster

With Darnold and Milroe, QB room is most exciting since 2001

April 28, 2025 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks have put together the most interesting quarterback room since Matt Hasselbeck and Super Bowl-winning QB Trent Dilfer came along in 2001.

Back then, Mike Holmgren – then in his third year – added Hasselbeck and Dilfer to replace Jon Kitna and Brock Huard. Hasselbeck came in a trade with Green Bay and Dilfer came from Baltimore after stepping in as the starting QB there and winning the Super Bowl the previous year. It took a year or so for Hasselbeck to fully claim the job over Dilfer, but then the Hawks went on a five-year run of playoff seasons that included their own Super Bowl appearance (and controversial loss).

Pete Carroll and John Schneider also cleaned house at the position in 2012, when Russell Wilson and Matt Flynn replaced Tarvaris Jackson and Charlie Whitehurst. Wilson won the job as a rookie and went on to become the best QB in franchise history, overtaking Hasselbeck for that honor, while leading the Hawks to their only Super Bowl title and another Super Bowl that should have been a win.

Now the Seahawks have wiped the slate clean again, with the hope that it will lead to more Super Bowl wins under Mike Macdonald, now in his second season.

Continue reading →

Free agency, On the air

Hasselbeck: If Darnold finds ‘clutch gene,’ he can be a franchise QB

March 13, 2025 cc 1 Comment

The big question about new Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold is very simple: Will he
continue to play like he did in Minnesota last season?

Matt Hasselbeck and others are confident he will.

Darnold struggled early in his career because he had really bad coaching with the Jets and Panthers. To his credit, he got out of that cycle and intentionally took a step back so he could learn how to play quarterback in the NFL.

Now he just needs to find that “clutch gene” to become Seattle’s franchise quarterback, Hasselbeck said.

Continue reading →

The roster, Trades

Is Howell a trade for Hasselbeck — or for Whitehurst?

March 16, 2024 cc Leave a comment

As fans across social media debate the Sam Howell trade, perhaps the best way to frame the discussion is thus: Did the Seahawks just trade for Matt Hasselbeck or did they trade for Charlie Whitehurst?

In other words, did they add a potential franchise passer or a second-tier backup? Or maybe something in between?

A few weeks ago, we set the table for the transition from holdover quarterback Geno Smith to a new QB who becomes Mike Macdonald’s guy. In that post, we retraced how Mike Holmgren landed Hasselbeck in Year 3 (2001) and how John Schneider took a swing on Whitehurst in his first year (2010), missed and didn’t get his QB until Year 3 either.

Hasselbeck turned into a franchise savior while Whitehurst was merely Clipboard Jesus. Which might Howell be?

Continue reading →

Contracts, The roster

History says Geno will lead the Hawks to the playoffs in 2024, then be replaced

February 5, 2024 cc 2 Comments

If history is any predictor, Geno Smith will lead the Seahawks to the playoffs in Mike Macdonald’s first season – and then be replaced shortly thereafter.

John Schneider has been involved in a new Seattle coach’s transition period with a lame-duck quarterback twice before and been instrumental in finding the franchise quarterback both times.

Continue reading →

Franchise history

Holmgren, Hasselbeck started this era of winning

October 29, 2021 cc Leave a comment

With the current Seahawks in a big hole and the playoffs looking slim for 2021, it’s good timing that the team is giving fans something to cheer about by honoring the two guys who took Seattle to its first Super Bowl.

Mike Holmgren will join his longtime QB, Matt Hasselbeck, in the Ring of Honor this Sunday. Hasselbeck was honored Monday night (see his speech).

These are the two guys most responsible for bringing the franchise out of its 1990s slump, getting it to its first Super Bowl and establishing a winning culture that has persisted for two decades.

Continue reading →

Playoffs: At Green Bay

Hawks, Pack resume one of NFL’s best rivalries

January 7, 2020 cc Leave a comment

If you liked the drama of Seattle’s past two games, you will love it when the Seahawks and Packers resume a series that has been one of the NFL’s best non-division rivalries for two decades.

This will be their 16th meeting since 1999, the most for each franchise against a non-division foe. It’s their fourth playoff meeting — also making them each other’s most common postseason foe in those 21 seasons.

Continue reading Hawks, Pack resume one of NFL’s best rivalries →

Franchise history, Week 14: At Green Bay

Hawks, Pack meet again

December 9, 2016 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks are headed back to Green Bay this weekend to renew one of the best non-division rivalries in the NFL — the fifth time in five years they will have faced each other.

While the Hawks (8-3-1) fight to hold on to the No. 2 seed in the NFC, the Pack (6-6) is trying to get back in the hunt. It’s just the latest dramatic meeting between the two franchises, which have been deeply intertwined since 1999.

Newer Seahawks fans might think the Packers-Seahawks series consists of three games: the Hawks’ infamous Fail Mary victory on a Monday night in 2012, Seattle’s 20-point win in the opening game of 2014 and Seattle’s miracle comeback in a 28-22 overtime win in the NFC title game.

But this series was full of great matchups back when Mike Holmgren and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck were leading the Hawks against their old team — led by Brett Favre — and this will be the 13th meeting since 1999.

Continue reading Hawks, Pack meet again →

Contracts, Free agency

2012 picks get paid; Mebane’s tenure ends

March 10, 2016 cc 1 Comment

The Seahawks had a busy first day of free agency, saying goodbye to three Super Bowl stalwarts, watching their 2012 draft class continue to get paid, retaining another starting defender and celebrating their first Super Bowl quarterback as he retired.

It was no surprise that Bruce Irvin, J.R. Sweezy and Brandon Mebane signed elsewhere (even though we expected Mebane to be back). In fact, the Seahawks already were busy trying to replace Irvin and Mebane as former Hawk Chris Clemons reportedly was coming for a visit and Seattle reportedly showed interest in the Eagles’ Cedric Thornton and the Steelers’ Cam Thomas.

A return by the 34-year-old Clemons would be poetic, since he mentored Irvin through his first two NFL seasons. Clemons played with Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril in 2013, when the Seahawks won the Super Bowl.

The Seahawks didn’t try very hard to keep Irvin or Mebane, knowing Irvin would be too expensive and declining to pay Mebane as much as they gave Ahtyba Rubin ($4 million a year) the other day. Irvin ended up getting $9 million a year from Oakland, while Mebane also headed to the AFC West, getting $4.5 million a year from San Diego. Sweezy received a $6.5 million average from Tampa Bay.

Continue reading 2012 picks get paid; Mebane’s tenure ends →