John Carlson has been noticeably missing from the Seahawks offense this year, catching only 17 passes for 187 yards and one touchdown. The touchdown numbers, or should I say number this year, is surprisingly low for Carlson, who had become a favorite red zone target in 2009. What’s causing the drop in production? Field Gulls John Morgan has an idea and doesn’t think it has anything to do with the tight end.
Carlson is receiving for a quarterback that, and I confront this idea every so often, might be among the very worst starters in the NFL. Matt Hasselbeck might be so bad, not just weak armed but hesitant, sometimes wild, incapable of completing a roll out, and, yes, incapable of challenging safeties deep, that it’s borderline impossible to evaluate any skill position player independent of him.
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Lets break this out in case anyone suffers paragraph fatigue: 15 of John Carlson’s 39 targets were intercepted or fell incomplete because of Matt Hasselbeck, 38% of all targets.
The good news, according to Morgan, is that Carlson is probably just fine. The bad news, however, is that his quarterback may not be. Seahawks fans have been wondering if Matt Hasselbeck is declining and a look at Carlson’s numbers, along with the eye test, appears to confirm those suspicions.
With all the talent the offense has — Carlson, Mike Williams, Golden Tate and Deon Butler to name a few — it does no good when they can’t get their hands on the ball.