Matt Hasselbeck And The Seahawks Defy All Odds And Defeat Defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints

Matt Hasselbeck and the Seahawks Defy All Odds and Defeat Defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints

In one of the biggest upsets in NFL playoff history, the Seattle Seahawks defeated the defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints 34-19 last Saturday.  Heading into the game, everyone in the entire nation, except the Seahawks themselves, predicted a Saints blowout.  The Seahawks had lost seven out of their last ten regular season games by 15 points or more, mainly due to the play out of their quarterback position being awful.  Matt Hasselbeck has had his hip drained three times since injuring it against the Bucs, and he also played with a brace against the Saints to help protect his injured left wrist.  Clearly neither injury was a big obstacle, as he finished 22 of 35 for 272 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.  Hasselbeck’s hip would seem to be vulnerable to re-injuring it, but he and the Seahawks aren’t worried about it right now, as they’re still coming down from their upset win over the Saints.  If Seattle is to head to Chicago and beat the Bears, Hasselbeck must come to play again.Matt Hasselbeck joined KJR in Seattle to talk about in how he would rank Saturday’s game among the best of his career in terms of excitement, he thought the start to Saturday’s game being down 10-0 wasn’t the way they would have liked to start, and how he has dealt with all of the emotions throughout the season with the fans chanting Charlie Whitehurst’s name and now he is the toast of the town.

In terms of excitement how he would rank Saturday’s game among the best of his career:

“Well it was great; it was a lot of fun.  I think you have got to probably put it in that playoff category.  There have been some good ones and there have been some tough ones.  We lost a tough one to Chicago in the playoffs.  We lost a tough one, I am trying to think, I think it was at St. Louis.  We had the ball and it was like at the five yard line and it was kind of a tough catch for Bobby Engram and I probably put it a little too low and probably a little too much mustard and he dropped that one.  (Editor’s note:  It was in Seattle, not St. Louis as I was at the game) The one I threw the pick to Al Harris in Green Bay, those are tough ones…  I look back to this one and this was a thrilling one.  Marshawn put the exclamation point on that one at the end of the game.  We watched the film today and it really could have gone either way.  Guys stepped up and made some big, big plays.  We were prepared and we had a good day.  Things were rolling and things were clicking.  That was a good football team.  We made them look normal at times because of the way that we played…”

If he thought the start to Saturday’s game being down 10-0 wasn’t the way they would have liked to start:

“Well Pete says a lot.  One of the things that he says a lot is ‘Hey you don’t win the game in the first quarter.  You don’t lose the game in the first quarter.’  But I definitely had one of those, when the ball got tipped and intercepted on my third pass, I definitely had one of those ‘You have got to be kidding me’ moments.  ‘You have got to be kidding me.  This did not just happen.’  But that is OK.  Really in a way the game played out the way that Pete said it might play out.  He said, ‘Listen, these guys are coming out here.  They are very confident.  They are a good team.  They are listening to all of the stuff that is out there on the outside.’  ‘You guys shouldn’t have to go to Seattle to play this game.  You guys are better than them even though they won the NFC West and all of these things.  The game started out that way, 10-0 right away.  We answered and then its 17-something.  They were just up, up, up.  Then going into halftime they were down.  Out of nowhere, you couldn’t even put your finger on it.  They were losing at that halftime could not have been good for them.  Their coaches probably got on them and chewed them out and then all of the sudden they were like ‘What is this?’  Then we come out and scored that first drive.  I just think the game played in such a cool way that we were prepared to be in position at the end of the game to just put it away.  They were just a little bit shocked I think.  They were a good football team but all of the things were working in our favor…”

Whether he is aware that a seismic wave was registered around the stadium when Marshawn Lynch scored late in the game:

“Yeah I heard that.  I actually saw that graph.  It was pretty amazing and it is down to the second.  They said it was at one of its highest points when he crossed the goal line and one of its highest points when they showed the replay, I mean down to the second.  That is pretty powerful.  We might have to run that play again.  That was the only time we ran that play all game.  I don’t know if you give credit to the player or give credit to the runner and the blocker, but it was an awesome play.”

How he has dealt with all of the emotions throughout the season with the fans chanting Charlie Whitehurst’s name and now he is the toast of the town:

“Well I am just assuming that these people had too much to drink.  Maybe that was the four extra ounces of free beer they were getting.  That is the most logical explanation that I can come up with.”