Hasselbeck must rebound from nightmare game

RENTON, Wash. – Matt Hasselbeck had never had a game like this before.

Hasselbeck was responsible for a career-high five turnovers in Sunday’s 40-21 beating at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers.

A win would have ended the 49ers’ postseason chances and put the Seahawks on a collision course with the St. Louis Rams to decide the putrid NFC West.

Instead, Hasselbeck was awful, tossing four interceptions and losing a fumble after being sacked by 49ers linebacker Travis LaBoy. The turnovers led to 20 points for Alex Smith and the 49ers offense. The loss kept hope alive for the 49ers’ playoff chances and left the Seahawks to question their progress.

Hasselbeck knew this week’s film session wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience.

“Monday was a bad day. I wasn’t feeling good Monday for a lot of reasons,” Hasselbeck said.

The tape showed a quarterback trying to do too much with a receiving corps that was missing two starters in Mike Williams and Ben Obomanu. His play helped put the Seahawks’ defense in a bind, facing short fields most of the afternoon.

“I think one of the main things is just wasted interceptions,” Hasselbeck said. “You can’t play one way when the game is tight and the score is close, and play another way when the game is out of reach. I know that lesson, and I’ve learned that lesson the hard way a few other times.”

“It’s like Pete (Carroll) told me, ‘No matter how many times you say it or do it, unfortunately sometimes you got to learn the hard way to actually get the lesson for real,’ and to really stamp it in there, tattoo it on your brain so to speak. So lesson learned and we just learn from it and keep going,” Hasselbeck said.

Carroll has continually stressed protecting the football and it made Hasselbeck tentative early in the season. Now the pendulum has swung in the other direction.

“I think Matt got caught up in the game this week of trying to make something happen and trying more than he needed to … ,” Carroll said. “You try too hard, you over-try, try to force the action and things usually go the wrong way. You need to stay within the system, stay within the style that we want to play and the way we prepare.”

Hasselbeck will get some added help with the likely return of Williams and Obomanu to the lineup this week. The offense has struggled to find consistency in the passing game with Williams sidelined the better part of the last three weeks. Williams has become Hasselbeck’s go-to target. He’s thrown eight interceptions the past three games with Williams limited to one series because of injuries. He’d thrown just seven all season until that point.