Tip of the cap to Mike Sando of ESPN.com for pointing out a radio interview Matt Hasselbeck did with ESPN Milwaukee today and he transcribed some interesting quotes from the free agent quarterback. Though most of the interview was just a confirmation of what we already know (or more realistically, what we already.. still.. don't know), Hasselbeck touched on some of the main questions that Seahawks' fans have and offered up a little more detail on them.
Per Sando's transcription, Matt Hasselbeck noted:
"I definitely am hopeful to be back here, but at the same time, I understand that with a new GM, with a new regime, they sometimes want to go in a different direction. That could happen, too. I am prepared for whatever. Right now, I am just trying to get strong, really improve in some areas on the field and make a big leap this year physically and be ready to play at a high level -- play hopefully the best football of my career.
"Either way, it's a new offense. Darrell Bevell is the offensive coordinator here now. I have been with Darrell in Green Bay. I really like him as a coach. I love the offense he is installing here. If I was in charge of the offense, it is the offense that I would install. That learning curve would be good."
As per usual, Hasselbeck is saying what he should say and offering up what he can. He still doesn't know what will happen once free agency hits but he's ready for anything. The waiting game continues.
Hass hit on a few other topics as well, and interestingly enough touched on a subject I've been harping over in the last day or two - the use of tight ends in our offense. He had this to say when asked about John Carlson's injury in the playoff matchup against the Bears:
"Yeah that was a horrible concussion he got at the end of the year, and really left us without any tight ends against the Bears. Had we won that game, we would have hosted the Packers in the NFC Championship game in Seattle, after going 7-9 during the year. It was really a crazy situation.
"In the first quarter, -we only dressed two tight ends that day-, we lost both of them. John had a real serious concussion, and I think spent the night in the hospital in Chicago. Our other tight end (Cameron Morrah) had a really bad foot injury and ended up having surgery. That left us high and dry, and we really had no runs, it's just hard to do without a tight end."
This relates to a couple of posts I've put together recently about the use of two and even three tight end sets in the Seahawks' offense so be sure to check them out.