Injured Hawks won’t sit out

RENTON – The components add up to three more weeks of Seneca Wallace and Mansfield Wrotto.

With a 2-11 record, a hopeless season and a high draft pick on the line, the Seattle Seahawks have every reason to sit down hobbled offensive stars Matt Hasselbeck and Walter Jones for the rest of the season.

But Mike Holmgren isn’t willing to go down like that.

The Seahawks’ coach, who has three games left in his tenure, said Monday that his Pro Bowlers will play again this season as soon as they are cleared medically.

“It’s a team sport, (and) we talk about team unity and battling for each other, all that kind of stuff,” Holmgren said Monday when asked whether he has considered shutting down one or both of his hobbled offensive players for the remainder of the season. “As soon as you start doing things like that, if a guy can play, I think you’re not being true to your word. My own philosophy is, if they can play, they play.”

Holmgren added that both Jones and Hasselbeck were the type of players who may “fight a coach” who tries to keep him from playing. And on Monday, one day after sitting out the 24-21 loss to New England because of injuries, Jones and Hasselbeck said they would prefer to play again this season.

“There’s just three games left, and the record isn’t what it should be, but I still want to be out there and fight with the guys,” said Jones, who has been nursing a sore knee for several weeks. “Those are the guys you go to war with each week. It’s a tough game, and you want to be out there with those guys when you’re in the heat of battle.”

Hasselbeck, who has had a bulging disk in his back since the preseason, also said that he was eager to get back out on the field, but added he’s being more patient with his recovery.

“I know when I first got hurt I was really fighting it, (telling team trainers): ‘You don’t know what’s best for me,’ ” Hasselbeck said Monday. “But now I know they know what’s best for me. I definitely respect what they have to say, and when they tell me what to do, then I’m accepting of it.”

The quarterback acknowledged that he’s putting himself in danger by returning to the field. He said Monday that by sitting out the final three weeks, he would be virtually guaranteed of not having to undergo surgery and would be fully healed by February. But by playing, Hasselbeck risks further injury.

“That has been discussed,” Hasselbeck said of sitting out the final three weeks. “But that’s not my job. My job is to just get better for this week, and that is what I am trying to do. That’s the way I can help the team.”

Hasselbeck has missed six games due to the back injury this season, including five in a row in October and early November. He practiced last week but said Monday that the training staff did not see enough to clear him for Sunday’s game against New England.

As for this Sunday’s game against the 2-11 St. Louis Rams, Hasselbeck said that he hopes to be cleared sometime Wednesday night.

When asked whether he expects to play again this season, he said: “I hope so, definitely hope so. I expect to, I would say so. Again, it’s not really my call.”

Holmgren said that he hopes to have both players for Sunday’s game. And if the offensive Pro Bowlers are cleared, they will play – no matter how meaningless the game might be.

“On Wednesday, some decisions will be made” by the training staff, Holmgren said. “I’m hopeful that we do get them back.”

And if the Seahawks do, it’s back to the sideline for Wallace and Wrotto.