Matt Hasselbeck
Matt Hasselbeck
Matthew Michael Hasselbeck is a former American football quarterback and current analyst for ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown. He was drafted in the sixth round of the 1998 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers. After a season on the practice squad and two seasons backing up Brett Favre, he was traded to the Seattle Seahawks in 2001. Hasselbeck led Seattle to six playoff appearances and a Super Bowl. He was selected to three Pro Bowls and was an All-Pro in...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionFootball Player
Date of Birth25 September 1975
CityBoulder, CO
CountryUnited States of America
He is definitely a threat that people are aware of at all times.
It's a pep rally, right? Those people were there from, like, 4:30 in the morning, so I feel like I owed them something.
Our fans have been great. That crowd noise, people underestimate it, but it's important and our fans take a lot of pride in that, too. They're a part of this, they're a real part of this thing.
Some of those people are former players here. Some are coaches that have been around or people in the building. Or maybe it's just some of the people from Seattle who have followed the team since 1976. It would mean a great deal to them.
I didn't read into it like other people did. Guess what? We're going to go out and try and win this game. Sorry, we're not going to just go out and lay down.
Being in the locker room and talking to all the people in there, I realize this a big deal to a lot of people.
People expect the Steelers to win this game. Oh well, we're not getting caught up on it. It is what it is.
People dog the Seahawks because there's not history here, but there is. Obviously, it doesn't go back as far as the Redskins or Packers or teams like that, but there's history here.
People expect the Steelers to win the game. Oh well, it is what it is. It doesn't surprise me that they're the favorite. There are a lot of things that people don't know about us, starting with our names.
You can sense this is a big deal to a lot of people.
I'm sure some of the coaches are aware of it, or the people who have been in the building for a long time are aware of it. But a lot of our guys are young. They don't remember, and they don't really care. What we do care about is this team, this year and what we can do.
Some people would rather be the favorite and walk in and play like the best. That hasn't been our thing this year. We have played to earn respect. And the way to earn respect is by going out and winning the next game you play. That approach has helped get us here.
Honestly, we're going to be OK, we're going to get over this game. Hey, we had an opportunity to play better and to be world champs. We didn't play well enough to be world champs and we all know that. People will make excuses, saying, 'They got you on a trick play,' or, 'The officials called that and it looked like something else.' As players, we're not going to make that excuse. Our excuse is we didn't play well enough, period.
Instead of people saying, 'Hey, I feel bad for you,' it felt more like people were applauding ... No, it didn't feel that way, it WAS that way. It was tough. It was very, very tough.