Matt Hasselbeck: franchise quarterback or a game manager?

[Northhawk]

Or maybe something in-between?

Someone called Matt a franchise quarterback in another thread. I liked Matt and thought he was a good quarterback but never thought he was great or a franchise quarterback. I found him frustratingly inconsistent and sometimes he reminded me of Dave Krieg.

Then I looked at his stats: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Hasselbeck

They're pretty decent.

I also read a definition of a franchise player is someone you build a team around which, wrongly or rightly, Holmgren did.

That said, I still have a hard time thinking of Matt as a franchise QB. For me, he was just a good QB - better than average but not elite.

 

[ImTheScientist]

Game manager....Alex Smith is who I would compare him to. Decent qb, but he won't win you the Super Bowl. With that said, he is the 2nd best qb in franchise history.

 

[DavidSeven]

Neither.

He was a good-great QB. I don't really think "game manager" applies because he took a lot of risks. Franchise? I don't think he had quite the arm talent to be elite. But still a great, Pro Bowl level QB in his best years.

 

[chris98251]

As Steve Young said, 75 percent of a QB job is game management, how the execute the other 25 percent is what makes a difference, also that 75 percent is decision making.

 

[Lynch Mob]

explosive game manager. He was way better than Alex Smith, Hassellbeck put up numbers and carried the team for a while when Alexander's motor blew. Hassellbeck is no franchise QB but he deserves more respect than a simple game manager.

 

[drdiags]

At one time during the mid-2000s heyday he was being mentioned for the MVP. The guy took the team to the Superbowl. He admits himself that his emotions got the best of him during that bizarre game. He was just as effective as Kurt Warner, though he never had the weapons Kurt did.

Yes, he was a Franchise QB. Carson Palmer was once considered a Franchise QB so it isn't a career-long title. Who cares. Matt should have just as many SB titles as Wilson does. Matt was better than Krieg and because DK wasn't getting coast-to-coast blowhard coverage, he probably is considered a game manager. To me, a game manager is someone like Trent Dilfer or Jeff Garcia. Rich Gannon or Mark Brunnell. Matt was better than these guys in my mind.

 

[kearly]

Franchise QB. Every QB to ever play the game is a game manager to an extent.

 

[DavidSeven]

If you're willing to call Hass a franchise QB, then you would have to say the same thing about Matt Schaub (before he imploded this year).

Not saying that's wrong. Just seems weird to me.

 

[AROS]

I guess we all have our own definitions of what a franchise QB is and I always considered Hasselbeck a franchise QB throughout the meaningful years he was our starting QB. There's only two words that get my pissed off lately more than "Superb Owl" and that's "Game Manager". Sick of hearing the term because I feel it's been perpetuated by the media as a backhanded compliment to Russell Wilson who is so much more than that.

 

[Smelly McUgly]

Hasselbeck basically willed us to the playoffs in 2007. I would say the only type of QB that can do that sort of thing is a franchise QB.

 

[Happy]

I think Holmgren wanted hass to be a game manager and that resulted in some tension early on because Hass wanted to be a gunslinger. Later in his tenure here though Holmgren let him have more control over the offense and he did a great job with it. I think it was like 2006 and 2007 when running game sputtered Holmgren asked a lot more out of matt and matt did fine.

So ultimately, I belive Matt's ceiling was higher than just being a game manager, but how much more and for long was he capable of playing at that higher level are the questions.

 

[NFSeahawks]

Or maybe something in-between?

Someone called Matt a franchise quarterback in another thread. I liked Matt and thought he was a good quarterback but never thought he was great or a franchise quarterback. I found him frustratingly inconsistent and sometimes he reminded me of Dave Krieg.

Then I looked at his stats: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Hasselbeck

They're pretty decent.

I also read a definition of a franchise player is someone you build a team around which, wrongly or rightly, Holmgren did.

That said, I still have a hard time thinking of Matt as a franchise QB. For me, he was just a good QB - better than average but not elite.

Reminds me of Matt Ryan, can't get it done in the big game.

 

[HawKnPeppa]

He was more than a game manager, but Hass is sooo 2010 and prior. Let that stuff go.

 

[Vetamur]

Game manager....Alex Smith is who I would compare him to. Decent qb, but he won't win you the Super Bowl. With that said, he is the 2nd best qb in franchise history.

Thats ridiculous. He was clearly good enough to win us our first Super Bowl, he was not the reason we lost.


Im not sure when "game manager" became a pejorative. Joe Montana prided himself on being a game manager.

Hass was a QB that deserves a spot in the Hall of Very Good. He wasnt in the class of Brady, Manning.. but he was very good. As time goes by it really seems Seattle fans are losing appreciation of what the Holmgren era Seahawks accomplished and did. Youd get the impression now it was just the Walter Jones show.. Alexander was only average, Hass was "decent".. How many play off berths in a row? How many division crowns? Our first Super Bowl.

Those guys were good.

 

[Happy]

Those guys were good.

That 2005 offense was a juggernaut. I remember that very well.

 

[Sarlacc83]

Hass was a game manager in the sense in that Holmgren's offense was so rigid. His mastery of the system made him a franchise QB.

 

[Rainger]

All these words are media crap. #1 receiver, elite QB, franchise QB, all of it is nonsense. All players contribute to the team the way the coaching staff manipulates and controls the way he team will play. Your team and your players are what your team, FO and coaches make or allow you.

 

[RolandDeschain]

Halfway between the two, IMO. Love the man with all my heart, though. Can't wait until he gets a media job, and I hope he isn't bitter about how he left Seattle.

 

[sutz]

Well, I look at one game and think "franchise" QB, although I don't particularly like the title, or "game manager" to be honest. They're useless categories to me.

In the 2005 playoffs, Alexander went down in the first quarter and Matt Hasselbeck "managed" to win that game without a lot of help from the running game. When you're winning playoff games through adversity, that pretty much fits the franchise label in my mind.

Having said that, I still think he was bit of a "system" QB, well matched to Holmie's version of the WCO, but not necessarily a good fit for other systems.

 

[AROS]

Hass was a QB that deserves a spot in the Hall of Very Good. He wasnt in the class of Brady, Manning.. but he was very good. As time goes by it really seems Seattle fans are losing appreciation of what the Holmgren era Seahawks accomplished and did. Youd get the impression now it was just the Walter Jones show.. Alexander was only average, Hass was "decent".. How many play off berths in a row? How many division crowns? Our first Super Bowl.

Those guys were good.

Amen!!