Hawks and Hasselbeck: Half Seconds

It's believed that Matt Hasselbeck reinvented himself in 2010 as a vertical quarterback. He certainly looked more successful at the deep bomb from my armchair. It was no small task for him to accomplish this transformation, set at his feet by 2010 offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates. But Bates is now gone, leaving us to wonder what value that transformation will have going forward, and how complete it was.

Despite what some say about Darrell Bevell's predilection for the West Coast offense, Seattle's new OC comes from the Reid-Childress branch of the WCO that employs Desean Jackson and Sidney Rice. There's no reason to limit our expectations to a mostly short passing game of the kind Holmgren ran. There will be deep passes in Seattle in 2011, and Hasselbeck will indeed have value to the Seahawks if it can be proven that Bates' West Coast Recovery program has turned him into a deep-ball maestro.

Problem is, no successful quarterback in this league actually has the deep pass for his bread and butter. It is the velocity of the football on all manner of throws - short, intermediate, and long - that keeps the chains moving and the ball slicing past defenders. The Packers' game in particular is based on intermediate zip. Arm strength is not shown by distance; it's shown by velocity.

And by that definition, I'm not sure Hasselbeck has ever thrown a deep pass in his life.