Ode to Matt Hasselbeck
I know we're in the middle of Purdue football season...and this is a Purdue-centric site...but since I helped start this site, I can write about whatever inspires me to put the virtual pen to paper. If you haven't heard Matt Hasselbeck's postgame comments following the Texans game, I'd suggest you Google them and give them a watch. Hasselbeck, who is a seemingly-humble guy was even more humble following the victory over the Texans.
His comments ranged from sheepish and attention deflecting to absolutely disgusting. It's been a weird week for the Colts. They cut and resigned a third string QB in a three day period and won two important divisional games in a five day period. I know Bears fans reading this will lament that the Colts' crappy division is the key to their success, but as you all know, the Colts don't control who's in their division, but they absolutely do control that division.
The NFL record (16) of consecutive victories over divisional foes is a record that the Colts continue to break each time they play a smurf from the AFC South...but the fact that they just won two isn't noteworthy...they way they did it is.
I'm a 40 year old guy who is reminded of my age each time I get out of bed in the morning. My feet sound like I'm walking on whipper snappers...and feel as if they're being stabbed for the first few steps. My back and left knee hurt, my shoulder is always tight when I'm first starting the day...and I play church league softball (stopped playing organized football in the 9th grade). I cannot imagine what Matt Hasselbeck feels like this morning.
Relieved, blessed, dehydrated, tired...sure. But as I said when the Colts first signed him, The Colts have the best backup QB in the league. He's smart, efficient and deferent to the young guy who's making a lot more money than he is and is the face of the franchise. PLUS, when he's needed, he just does his job.
The Colts looked like one of the worst offenses in the NFL in their first two games. OL was suspect, running game was shaky, and their Pro Bowling QB looked like one of the Purdue quarterbacks from the last five years just struggling to help figure out the offensive identity of the team he was leading. A 40 year old backup changed that. The offensive line is suddenly opening holes for Gore, they're protecting the pocket, and the ball is being distributed calmly and evenly to the talented receiving corps.
Hasselbeck, who said Luck is a great teacher and leader, schooled the Stanford man on how to run a pro style offense in the face of adversity last night...In the process, we might have seen the tipping point in which the Colts figure out they actually are a good team...one that shouldn't only win the division, but contend for the whole ball of wax.
The rift between (Purdue grad) Grigson and Pagano is no longer in the news...it's been replaced with talk of dysentery-like symptoms and an old bald guy that the horse shoe is now rallying around. As a Purdue fan who uses Colts football as a salve on years of painful football Saturdays, I want to than #8 for giving me a little hope that this fall isn't going to be so bad after all.
Here's to Luck getting healthy, learning from the old dog and punching the hated Patriots in the mouth in 9 days. If the Texans game is to be a true watershed for the Colts, they need to follow it up with a statement in the Oil Can on the 18th.
