Matt Hasselbeck, Seattle Seahawks / Image: Zuma Press

Even with the impressive collection of healthy receivers the Hawks have on staff (T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Nate Burleson, Deion Branch, Deon Butler, Billy McMullen), having a healthy Matt Hasselbeck is the straw that will stir this offensive drink under new offensive coordinator Greg Knapp. And Matt understands this:

“I hope everything’s in. The (play)book is so thick. I think what we’re trying to do now is just really install everything, see what works, see what fits the personnel. And Greg Knapp’s kind of going 100 miles an hour teaching it, coaching it. We’re just trying to learn it, practice it, get so it feels just like second nature.”

Source: The News Tribune

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Matt Hasselbeck’s Back is Better

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast

The Seattle Seahawks won the T.J. Houshmandzadeh sweepstakes today. The receiver-depleted Hawks offered Housh five years for $40 million with $15 million guaranteed and beat out the Vikings and Bengals (be serious) for his services. I think T.J. is definitely worth the money. He’s proven that on the field with 372 receptions over the past four years. No other player has caught more passes. He’s a bigger body receiver than his 6-1, 200 pound frame would indicate. He’s a guy who isn’t afraid of the middle of the field. He catches everything thrown at him. He runs good routes. He makes plays. So, he needed to get paid and he did what he felt was best for his career in choosing Seattle. There’s not much in the way of quotes yet, but T.J. did say:

“I just felt it was the best destination, it was the best team, it was the best choice for me.”

Well, obviously. And he might be right. A lot of folks felt Housh should’ve signed with the Vikings as they are supposedly poised to make a Super Bowl run, but I really don’t see it happening based on their offseason moves thus far. The Vikes completely overlooked better available free agent QBs — apparently opting to put their offense in the hands of unproven semi-journeyman quarterback Sage Rosenfels — and haven’t done anything to address their own dire need at the receiver position. At this time, Minnesota still doesn’t have a number one receiver and ultimately I don’t think they’ll be any better than they were last season. If they’re even that good. I would grade their offseason/FA work with an F at this point. As far as the Seahawks are concerned, they have much greater stability at the quarterback position with Matt Hasselbeck. Seattle doesn’t have the running game the Vikings do, but they do have the quarterback. For T.J., it was about more money and a better quarterback. Decisions, decisions. You do the math.

Source: ESPN.com, Photo: Newscom

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Seahawks Sign T.J. Houshmandzadeh

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast

Expedia.com, the Official Travel Team of the NFL, kicked off “Go Like Pro,” an on and offline program connecting fans with unique travel options to and from NFL cities, and other popular destinations. The program showcases two quarterbacks — Matt Hasselbeck of the Seattle Seahawks and Jason Campbell of the Washington Redskins — providing the players’ personal travel tips on uniquely designed pages on Expedia.com. The program also highlights Expedia-exclusive travel deals for NFL cities across the country, and coming soon, a limited number of VIP vacation packages to the 2009 NFL Pro Bowl in Honolulu. Expedia announced its multiyear sponsorship as the Official Travel Team of the NFL in November 2007.

The centerpiece of the campaign is the “Go Like Pro Show,” Expedia’s national television and online advertising campaign. The tongue-in-cheek ads feature the two quarterbacks as hosts of a travel talk show. Webisodes, longer-form versions of the TV commercials, will be prominently featured on the Expedia NFL pages. Check ‘em out.

Source: Expedia.com

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Matt Hasselbeck Expedia Commercial

Blogcasting the National Football League, Blogcasting the NFL

Here’s the new Reebok NFL Equipment commercial that features 20 NFL players, the most to ever appear in a single TV ad. Look for Eli and Peyton Manning, Kevin Boss, Jerricho Cotchery, Greg Ellis, Matt Hasselbeck, Madison Hedgecock, Chad Johnson, Thomas Jones, Mathias Kiwanuka, Nick Mangold, Laurence Maroney, Jeff Saturday, Bo Scaife, Derrick Ward, DeMarcus Ware, Ty Warren, Benjamin Watson, Reggie Wayne, and Vince Young. The products? Each player is wearing his team’s NFL Equipment Speedwick Tee and Reebok HexRide Rally II kicks. Football is back. Nice.

Source: Reebok

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Reebok NFL Players ‘Join the Migration’

The Arnold Sports Festival is the world’s largest multi-sport fitness weekend — a three-day fitness free-for-all with 37 events and 12 Olympic sports. This weekend, more than 150,000 sports fans witnessed 17,000 athletes competing in a wide range of sports — from the 20th anniversary of the Arnold Classic professional bodybuilding competition to archery, boxing, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, judo, running, table tennis, tae kwon do, weightlifting, wrestling, and wu shu. That’s a lot of sports. I don’t even know what wu shu is.

As usual, a mega-popular three-day Fitness EXPO anchored the fest with 650 fitness-related booths and ongoing stage entertainment. Among that entertainment and appearing at the “EAS Experience” were NFL players Vernon Davis (TE, San Francisco 49ers); Ronnie Brown (RB, Miami Dolphins); Larry Fitzgerald (WR, Arizona Cardinals); and Matt Hasselbeck (QB, Seattle Seahawks). I had a chance to speak with Vernon, Ronnie and Larry before their public appearances yesterday. Matt was ready to interview with me when host Arnold Schwarzenegger happened by the booth and that’s when I lost Matt. So, I’m blaming Arnold for messing up my interview with Matt Hasselbeck.

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

NFL Players Appear at Arnold Sports Festival

Blogging the National Football League, Blogging the NFL

The Dallas Cowboys placed a league-high 12 players on the NFC All-Star team. Among the players selected to the NFC squad was Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor, who died last month. Sean received the most votes at his position and was chosen as the starting free safety for the NFC team. A replacement will be announced at a later date. Eleven NFC players will participate in their first Pro Bowl, including Minnesota Vikings rookie running back Adrian Peterson, who leads the NFC in rushing yards with 1,278.

Five of the Cowboys’ Pro Bowl players – running back Marion Barber, guard Leonard Davis, rookie kicker Nick Folk, safety Ken Hamlin and cornerback Terence Newman – are also first-time All-Stars. They join tackle Flozell Adams (fourth Pro Bowl), center Andre Gurode (second), wide receiver Terrell Owens (sixth), quarterback Tony Romo (second), linebacker DeMarcus Ware (second) and tight end Jason Witten (fourth) to equal the largest Dallas Pro Bowl contingent ever. Dallas also had 11 players named to the All-Star team in 1993 and 1994.

The starting quarterback for the NFC is nine-time All-Star Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers. Brett, also the leading vote-getter among fans, ties Pro Football Hall of Famers John Elway, Dan Marino, Warren Moon and Norm Van Brocklin for the second-most Pro Bowl selections by a quarterback behind Johnny Unitas with 10. Joining Brett at QB are Dallas’ Tony Romo and Seattle’s Matt Hasselbeck. Tony is the first Cowboys QB to be chosen for back-to-back Pro Bowls since Hall of Famer Troy Aikman (1992-97). Matt joins Dave Krieg as the only Seahawks quarterbacks to be named to three Pro Bowls.

Starting at running back for the NFC is AD, who seeks to become the first rookie to lead the NFC in rushing since Pro Football Hall of Famer Barry Sanders (1989). He is joined by Dallas’ Marion Barber and two-time Philadelphia Eagles All-Star Brian Westbrook, who has an NFL-best 1,896 yards from scrimmage. I kind of scratched my head at Marion’s selection, but he is the first Cowboys RB to be chosen since the 2000 Pro Bowl (Emmitt Smith) and Brian is the sixth Eagles running back with multiple All-Star selections. Filling out the backfield is Minnesota fullback Tony Richardson, who makes his third Pro Bowl appearance (Kansas City, 2004-05) and first for the NFC.

Along with Dallas’ TO, now chosen as an All-Star with three teams (San Francisco, Philadelphia), the NFC’s other starting wide receiver is Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald, who played in the 2006 Pro Bowl. Rounding out the position are a pair of Pro Bowl veterans in seven-time All-Star Torry Holt of the St. Louis Rams and three-time All-Star Donald Driver of Green Bay.

The starting tight end for the NFC is Jason Witten, making his fourth consecutive appearance in Hawaii. He is joined by Washington’s Chris Cooley, who deservedly will make his Pro Bowl debut.

Minnesota’s Steve Hutchinson will make his fifth consecutive trip to the Pro Bowl and start at guard along with the Cowboys’ Leonard Davis. Philadelphia’s Shawn Andrews was named an All-Star for the second year in a row and fills out the position.

Starting at center is Dallas’ Andre Gurode, joined by Minnesota’s Matt Birk, a six-time Pro Bowl selection.

The starting tackles are Seattle’s Walter Jones, an eight-time All-Star, and the Cowboys’ Flozell Adams. Washington’s Chris Samuels, making his fifth Pro Bowl appearance, is the NFC’s third tackle.

A pair of two-time All-Stars will start at defensive end for the NFC in Green Bay’s Aaron Kampman and Seattle’s Patrick Kerney. New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora, making his second trip to Hawaii, also was chosen to represent the NFC.

Two Vikings will start on the interior defensive line in three-time All-Star Kevin Williams and two-time Pro Bowl selection Pat Williams. These two combine to make the Vikings the best in the league against the run. Chicago’s Tommie Harris was chosen for the third time in his career.

Seattle’s Lofa Tatupu makes his third Pro Bowl trip and will start at inside linebacker. He will be joined at the position by rookie Patrick Willis of the San Francisco 49ers, the No. 11 overall selection in the 2007 NFL Draft. The outside linebackers are Chicago’s Lance Briggs (third Pro Bowl), Seattle’s Julian Peterson (fourth) and Dallas’ DeMarcus Ware. Julian and DeMarcus were chosen as the starters.

All three cornerbacks on the NFC team are Pro Bowl newcomers. Green Bay’s Al Harris and Seattle’s Marcus Trufant will start with Dallas’ Terence Newman coming off the bench.

At free safety, the late Sean Taylor was selected as the starter. Dallas’ Ken Hamlin also was chosen at free safety and four-time All-Star Darren Sharper of the Minnesota Vikings will be the starting strong safety.

Two Bears are among the quartet of players who will handle special teams duties for the NFC. For the second consecutive year, Chicago’s Devin Hester will be the return specialist and Brandon Ayanbadejo will be the coverage specialist. Dallas’ rookie Nick Folk is the kicker and San Francisco punter Andy Lee was selected for the first time in his career.

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

Dallas Cowboys Lead NFL With 12 All-Stars, 11 First-Time Selections For NFC

For the second year in a row, the NFL is asking fans to pick the pitch that will become its Super Bowl commercial. Rather than fans presenting ideas like last year, for the first-time ever, NFL players will be going head-to-head off-the-field with their pitches for the NFL’s Super Bowl XLII commercial.

NFL Films traveled to NFL team headquarters this fall in a customized NFL–themed tractor trailer to capture the players’ stories. Fans will have the opportunity to hear these unique tales and get an exclusive look at some of their favorite NFL players, such as:

• Patriots’ Rosevelt Colvin, who confesses he got lost on his way to the first mini-camp and arrived with two-minutes to spare drenched in sweat.
• Seahawks’ Matt Hasselbeck, who talks about the first time he received fan mail only to discover it was from someone who wanted Hasselbeck to get him an autograph from Brett Favre.
• Cowboys’ Jason Witten, who admits he neglected to bring donuts to a team meeting causing the offensive line to tie him to the goal post and pour ice on him.

The pitches will be posted on www.nfl.com/superad and 48 of them will be eligible for voting. The selected pitches will be grouped by division and fans will vote for one of six players from each division during the regular season voting round, between today and December 26. Videos from the AFC North, AFC West, NFC North and NFC West will be eligible for voting beginning today through December 12. Videos from the AFC East, AFC South, NFC East and NFC South will be eligible for voting from December 13 – December 26. The remaining videos will be posted on www.nfl.com/superad in the Video Sidelines section.

The “Super Ad: Who Wants It More?” playoff round begins December 27. The contenders will be narrowed down from 48 to eight, with each division represented by one story. In addition, one video from the Video Sidelines section will be included in the playoff round as the wildcard. Fans will vote for their favorite out of the nine finalists over an eleven-day period.

The winning pitch will be determined by fan vote and a panel of judges, consisting of various members of the extended NFL family in areas such as marketing, advertising and media. The playoff round voting period will run from 12/27/07 – 1/6/08.

Joe Pytka, filmmaker and award-winning director of numerous television commercials, including last year’s critically acclaimed NFL spot, will direct the commercial made from the winning pitch. The winning pitch will inspire the NFL’s commercial that will run during Super Bowl XLII on Sunday, Feb. 3 on FOX. The player who submits the winning pitch will be featured in the spot. Fans who vote may also enter the sweepstakes for a chance to win a trip to Super Bowl XLII in Arizona.

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NFL Launches ‘Super Ad’ Promotion to Decide Super Bowl XLII Commercial