If you thought
“It was funny watching it the second time around,” wide receiver
How so? “You know how Matt runs,” Burleson said, lifting and extending his arms in an exaggerated fashion and wagging his head from side to side. “He kind of runs like a ‘Baywatch’ lifeguard. He has a lot of head and shoulder movement. Me and the guys, we love watching Matt run.”
Hasselbeck wasn’t around to defend himself, or his running style. But his decision to take off and exploit the Rams’ tendency of not honoring the backside was Hasselbeck’s biggest play in a 27-17 victory where he had season lows in attempts (25), passing yards (102) and long gain (17), his second fewest completions (14) and did not throw a touchdown pass for the first time in a victory.
Asked about his run after the game, Hasselbeck offered, “Whatever they said.”
Told that no one had said anything about the play, he added, “Then whatever they say.”
This is what coach Jim Mora had to say Monday when asked about the run: “That was Matt being a heads-up, smart quarterback aware of the situation. That was Matt. That was a nice play by him. He recognized what they were doing.
“Part of being an effective running team is having a threat out the backdoor, whether it be a bootleg or a QB who can tuck it away and run. Through the game, Matt got the feeling that they weren’t respecting his tremendous running ability out the backside side. So he decided to pull it down and go.”
Rather than handing the ball to running back
“He fooled everybody,” Mora said.
Including his coach? “Just for a second,” Mora said. “I thought initially he missed the handoff and then realized, no, he didn’t. That was him just playing ball.”
Or, playing the role of Michael Vick, Mora’s much-more mobile QB when he was coaching the Atlanta Falcons. Hasselbeck called it his “Mike Vick move.”
“He did?” Mora asked. “He used those words? If he used those words, then I’ll use those words. I was not going to use those words. But as long as he acknowledged it, yeah, in Atlanta we used to tag runs like that ’18. Force. QB.” And Mike had the ability, if he felt the defensive end pursuing hard, to just not hand it off and go out the backside.
“So as long as he said it, that’s OK. I wasn’t going to make that comparison.”
At the end of the run, Hasselbeck hesitated before stepping out of bounds as a defender approached him.
“I told him to give him a move, run him over, or do something – it’s you and one guy,” Burleson said. “He said he didn’t have it in him. So I’m going to have to take him out back, man, and teach him some moves.”
Sunday, Hasselbeck said if he had made a move, it would have been one of those one-hand-to-ground spin moves.
Told of that, Burleson cocked an eyebrow and cracked another smile.
“I don’t think that’s really Matt’s thing,” he said. “I think it was a good decision for him to go out of bounds.”
Obviously, nothing is out of bounds when it comes to Hasselbeck and his ability to improvise.
