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This
is a Jan. 12, 2008, file photo showing Green Bay
Packers quarterback Brett Favre (4) greeting Seattle
Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck after the second
half of an NFL divisional football playoff game in
Green Bay
.
Hasselbeck learned his lessons as Favre's backup in
Green Bay
.
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RENTON, Wash. - Matt Hasselbeck
has almost as many Brett Favre stories as career touchdown
passes. As in, 158.
There was the time Hasselbeck
was so excited to get his first piece of NFL fan mail as
Favre's rookie backup in Green Bay 11 years ago.
The letter read: "I'd
really appreciate it if you could get Brett Favre's autograph
for me."
There was the overtime coin
flip Hasselbeck correctly called in Green Bay during a
Seahawks-Packers playoff game, after he'd been traded to
Seattle. Hasselbeck then boldly announced "We want the
ball and we're going to score!" He didn't know the joke
was being broadcast throughout Lambeau Field and live on
national television, through the referee's microphone. He then
threw the interception that Al Harris returned for a
touchdown, ending Seattle's 2003 season.
"Typical Matt," Favre
said of his protege's humor and bravado.
Yet what the three-time league
MVP might not know: He almost kept Hasselbeck from becoming a
three-time Pro Bowl quarterback in Seattle.
Thursday, Hasselbeck laughed
when he was asked if he could have imagined that 11 years
after he first began learning from the future Hall of Famer,
he would be 34 years old and facing his mentor — now 40 —
Sunday at Minnesota.
"You know what? I don't
quite know. He had already accomplished so much at that
point," Hasselbeck said. "At the time, I would have
been happy staying there, letting him be the guy in Green Bay,
and just backing him up. It was that much fun."
Humor and leadership. Those are
the two biggest virtues Hasselbeck says he learned from Favre.
Throw in longevity, and you have the keys to Sunday being the
NFL-record 279th consecutive start for the mentor, and the
120th start in his understudy's nine-year run leading Seattle.
It's the longest tenure for a Seahawks quarterback in the
team's 34-year history.
"At the time I was with
him, it was the things people would call 'intangibles.' And he
had 'em," Hasselbeck said. "Every airport you go to
has all these bookstores that have these books on leadership.
I can promise you, he's never read one of them. It's just
something that he has.
"Teammates love him.
Coaches love him. Opponents love him. He was a lot of fun at
work. It's contagious, his attitude. And to go with that, he's
very, very talented."
Hasselbeck said when he played
at Boston College, the Eagles worked hard and were always
serious. But they didn't win, never made it to a bowl game.
"I get to Green Bay and
they're Super Bowl after Super Bowl. And the thing I noticed
is they just had so much fun," Hasselbeck said. "It
wasn't even like it was work."
Hasselbeck said even as a
relatively naive rookie a decade ago, he realized how special
Favre's mentoring was with the Packers.
"They were paying me —
and I felt like I should have been paying them,"
Hasselbeck said. "It was like Harvard Business School for
a young quarterback, being in the room. Mike Holmgren was the
head coach. Andy Reid was the quarterbacks coach. And Brett
Favre was the starter. It was an awesome experience."
Sunday will be the sixth time
protege and mentor have opposed each other. Hasselbeck is 1-4
against Favre. The last two times they've met have been in
blizzards — once in the playoffs at Green Bay at the end of
the 2007 season, and the other in a freak Seattle storm late
in 2006.
"Well, it won't snow this
week. That will be different," Hasselbeck said of playing
Favre in a dome. "It's exciting. I think it's good for
the game that he's back. It's obvious that he's rejuvenated
that team. He has only three interceptions this season. It's
really impressive. I'm really happy for him."
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