RENTON – According to Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, veteran quarterback Matt Hasselbeck’s struggles last season can be summed up succinctly – he was trying too hard.
“It was clear that he was over-trying,” said Carroll after watching film from last season. “Tremendously over-trying. He was trying to make things happen, in classic fashion to try and make a play and that caused him to make decisions where he would throw the ball into trouble.
“He wouldn’t read everything out. He wasn’t patient enough because he felt like there wasn’t room enough to be patient. And so those decisions, it takes you to ... another level of production that goes totally against you. And you have to play within the system and the concepts or you’re just making stuff up. And so he pressed too much.”
Hasselbeck’s stats from 2009 back up Carroll’s claim. He had his worst season as a pro, throwing as many interceptions (17) as touchdowns and finishing with a career-low 75.1 passer rating.
Hasselbeck was particularly bad in the last four games of the year – all losses – throwing 10 interceptions to just four touchdowns.
Hasselbeck agreed with Carroll’s assessment, and said he’s trying to learn from his errors. One way he is doing that is by watching a Kobe Bryant video that discusses how to handle trying to take on too much as one of the leaders on the team.
“I can see myself last year in a lot of the stuff Kobe was talking about,” Hasselbeck said. “And I would have been totally blind to it until it kind of came up the other night in a team meeting. And Gus Bradley had talked about it, and Pete (Carroll) talked about it. And then he showed this Kobe video and it all started to make sense a little bit.”
EXTRA POINTS
After missing nine days of practice due a concussion he suffered in a helmet-to-helmet hit against running back Justin Forsett on the first day of training camp, linebacker Aaron Curry was back in full uniform Tuesday. He worked into some 7-on-7 drills but no team drills, as the team continues to monitor his progress. Curry said he hopes to play on Saturday. …Carroll said rookie Russell Okung is now the starting left tackle, and that Ray Willis has asked to compete for the starting right tackle job with Sean Locklear, and will be granted his wish. Willis started 16 games at right tackle last season and also served as one of the offensive captains.
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