Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who’s hung around long enough in practice to earn a “questionable” tag after Coach Pete Carroll suggested earlier his Week 17 return might be “against the odds”, appears to be a game-time decision for Sunday Night’s season finale against the St. Louis Rams. The Seahawks remain set with Charlie Whitehurst at starter, but the Rams are used to teams being mum about the health and identity of their starter, having dealt with Troy Smith and Matt Cassel in consecutive weeks.
Hasselbeck’s press has been getting vaguely more positive since he practiced in an extremely limited fashion on Friday. The 35-year-old starter has spent the week rehabbing from a euphemistically described hip/gluteus injury suffered in last week’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Rams optimists will note that he was already struggling prior to the injury; in his last five games, since an excellent start against the New Orleans Saints, he’s thrown four touchdowns against ten interceptions. The Seahawks’ new backup plan for Hasselbeck, Charlie Whitehurst, has not developed as well as expected; if Hasselbeck can even fake it he’s likely to play today, in what might be his last start as a Seattle Seahawk.