Week 21 QB projections • TEN Stats
QB Matt Hasselbeck, Tennessee Titans
HT: 6-4, WT: 220, Born: 9-25-1975, College: Boston College, Drafted: Round 6
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Stats and Week 21 Projection
| WK | OPP | RES | CMP | ATT | PYD | Y/A | PTD | INT | RSH | YD | Y/R | TD | FPT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEASON TOTAL | 319 | 518 | 3571 | 6.9 | 18 | 14 | 20 | 52 | 2.6 | 0 | 246 | ||
Week 21 Injury Status and Other News
No official injury reports have been released yet
[Wed Feb 1, 7:02 PM] Matt Hasselbeck is expected to hold off Jake Locker for the starting quarterback job during training camp next season. What this means is that Hasselbeck will be treated with the respect that usually accompanies being a veteran incumbent starting quarterback. Still, if the Titans offense stumbles out of the gate, Locker will get on the field pretty quickly after making a strong impression in limited duty during his rookie year.
Week 21 Matchup Info
The Tennessee Titans have a bye this week.
Game Summaries
Week 1 at JAX - Hasselbeck's first start as the Titans quarterback had mixed results. While his statline looked solid enough in completing over 60% of his passes, he was not able to keep drives alive and convert third downs under that immense pressure of the Jaguars front seven. Hasselbeck did show that he still has plenty of arm strength to make all the throws. That said, the Titans inability to rush the ball put Hasselbeck in the unenviable position of having to move the ball almost solely through the air. As a result, it seemed that every solid throw was followed by an off-target throw where Hasselbeck and his intended receiver simply didn't look to be on the same page. His best pass of the day came on a critical third down with about eight minutes left in the game. On the play, Hasselbeck took a seven step drop and waited patiently in the pocket despite increasing defensive pressure. He threw a gorgeous pass to the left sideline where Kenny Britt was waiting between a cornerback and a safety. The play showed that with time in the pocket and comfort in the offense, Hasselbeck can still be effective at putting the ball in to tight spots all over the field. Hasselbeck's final pass of the game was a deep ball intended for Kenny Britt that was a bit long and intercepted by Dwight Lowery, essentially ending any Tennessee hope for a victory.Week 2 vs BAL - Matt Hasselbeck and the Titans pulled out perhaps the weeks biggest shocker in their dismantling of the Ravens. The Ravens possess a defense that does a great job of shutting down the run. But Hasselbeck and the Titans showed no fear of putting the ball in the air, as the offensive gameplan called for Hass to throw quickly and frequently. Though it's late in his career, Matt Hasselbeck has one of the best supporting casts that he's ever had. His offensive line gave him incredible protection. He was never sacked. He really made it look easy. If Hasselbeck continues to get this type of protection, and especially if Kenny Britt keeps up his unbelievable play, he is going to have a very big year. You really have to wonder if the offensive gameplan for Tennessee is now going to change. After the first quarter, the Titans were at a point where the first 5 offensive quarters of the season were pretty subpar. Tennessee is an offense known for their running game, and teams have just been shutting the running game down. In a noticeable shift, the Titans really began throwing the ball in the 2nd quarter and Hasselbeck picked apart an already thin and inexperienced secondary. The Ravens had no cornerback that could match up with Kenny Britt, and Hass exploited that weakness continually. He also used Nate Washington frequently as well. It's been a long time since a Tennessee QB used the wide receivers as much as Hasselbeck did against Baltimore. Hass did make a few errant throws, including one pass that should have been intercepted. But all QB's get a way with a few bad throws. All in all it was a spectacular game for the Titans.
Week 3 vs DEN - Matt Hasselbeck continues to turn back the clock and show that he is still quite capable of playing at a high level in the NFL. Despite a fumble when the ball was knocked from his grasp in the pocket, Hasselbeck looked poised and in control of the offense all game. More to his credit, Hasselbeck was able to engineer long drives and pick up key first downs through the air once it became clear that the Tennessee running game was not going to produce again in week 3. Hasselbeck's best pass came on touchdown throw to Nate Washington. On the play, Hasselbeck threw the ball low and outside near the front pylon in a spot that only Washington could catch it. He also had a number of impressive throws down the field including a 20 yard pass in the air to Craig Stevens that split two defenders on the way to a 54 yard gain. Hasselbeck seems to be benefiting greatly from the stellar play of the Titans offensive line. While Hasselbeck was sacked twice and fumbled once from the pocket, the Titans line is doing an extraordinary job on most plays not only keeping the pass rush off of Hasselbeck but also directing the pass rush away from where he wants to go. On rollout and bootleg throws the line successfully pushes the pressure to the middle of the pocket. And on plays that keep Hasselbeck in the pocket, the line is successfully pushing the pass-rush outside. As long as the protection keeps up, Hasselbeck is likely to have a number of productive games as the season progresses. That said, he is still relying on his first or second read in the passing game on most every down. While getting rid of the ball quickly also helps reduce sacks, the Titans still don't have time to develop downfield routes very often before Hasselbeck throws for a modest gain. With Kenny Britt gone for the second two-thirds of the game, Matt Hasselbeck looked fairly unaffected. On the one hand, he continued spreading the ball around to different parts of the field as he had with Britt healthy. On the other hand, he still keyed in on his first and second options. With Britt in the game, that was Britt and Washington. With Britt out of the game that was Washington and either a tight end or running back. Hasselbeck continues to rarely get past the second read before releasing the ball
Week 4 at CLE - Matt Hasselbeck spent the first three weeks of the season quickly releasing the ball and looking for the first available open man in his progressions. He spent week 4 against the Browns being patient and looking for the big play. The results were outstanding: despite a decrease in completion percentage, Hasselbeck had an 11 yards-per-attempt average to go with three touchdowns and one interception. Hasselbeck threw the ball with excellent touch, mixing in soft arcs and hard bullets with a veteran's savvy. Hasselbeck's best throw came early in the first quarter. On the play, he found a streaking Lavelle Hawkins for an 18 yard gain on third down. He deftly placed the ball between two defenders in a position that only Hawkins could receive it. He also threw the ball with velocity not seen much this year, making sure the safety did not have time to close in on the receiver before the ball arrived. Hasselbeck also seemed much more trusting of his offensive line, taking the time to let routes develop instead of throwing the ball as soon as possible. One such example was a pick route that resulted in a 57 yard gain for Nate Washington. On the play, Hasselbeck faced a two man blitz from the right side but waited an extra moment for Washington to break free before lofting a soft pass to him. Hasselbeck is playing as well as ever and the Titans offensive line is doing a stellar job keeping him upright.
Week 5 at PIT - Hasselbeck came out looking like the surprisingly hot quarterback he has been in the past few weeks on Tennessee's first drive. He took the team downfield with help from the run game, but the drive ultimately resulted in just a field goal due to red zone struggles. Once Pittsburgh jumped out to a lead, however, Hasselbeck seemed to lose his accuracy and appeared to press. He regained his form late in the third quarter on a drive that was capped by a one-yard Chris Johnson TD run. The drive was 9 plays, 77 yards and all but the final play was through the air. Hasselbeck continued to make better throws in the fourth, but much of his statistical totals came against soft prevent-type defenses. His outlook going forward shouldn't be changed much by this game though. It's still evident the new head coach Mike Munchak is much more pass-happy than former head coach Jeff Fisher was.
Week 7 vs HOU - After a hot start, Hasselbeck came crashing down to earth against the Houston Texans, throwing two bad interceptions; both overthrown with one returned for a touchdown. Hasselbeck was under duress and it showed in his decision making and accuracy. On the first interception, Hasselbeck just didn't get enough on the ball, although at his age his arm is far from ideal for a long bomb. On the pick-six, Hasselbeck dropped back but immediately found himself facing Texans in his backfield. His throw was rushed and a bit high, and then deflected by his receiver, Donnie Avery. It's possible Avery might have been able to make a better play on the ball but it was not a good pass. The quarterback was replaced by rookie Jake Locker very soon after the second interception. Hasselbeck was able to connect with tight end Jared Cook for a score, but it was a small glimmer of sunshine in an otherwise dark day for the Titans quarterback.
Week 8 vs IND - The whole day could be summed up with one word "patience", there really wasn't much for memorable plays it was mostly taking what the defense gave him. The Titans staff seemed content to run a pretty vanilla scheme allowing Hasselbeck to target his running backs a whopping 13 times in the day versus the Colts weaker cover two defense. Hasselbeck found wide receiver Nate Washington for a 14-yard touchdown pass that was half-heartedly covered by the downtrodden Colts defense. The day could've been better had the quarterback thrown the football a couple yards ahead of Washington instead it was ruled a backwards pass thus resulting in a 3 yard rushing touchdown. Hasselbeck displayed great game management paying dividends for his team in the win column. He also shows pretty good chemistry with Damian Williams resulting in a couple very nice 27 yard sideline completions.
Week 9 vs CIN - Hasselbeck started the game with an assortment of dinks and dunks around a solid dose of the running game. It took 6 passes before he connected on a pass more than 2 yards downfield and even that was a short cross on 3rd and 19. He finally got rolling in the 2nd quarter with a pass to a wide open Craig Stevens on a seam route. That led to his first touchdown pass, a perfectly placed 8 yard strike to Damian Williams in the back of the end zone. Williams was tightly covered, and made a great play to stay inbounds. When he got the ball back he went right back to work with three straight throws across the middle to his big tight end, Jared Cook. Cook was tightly covered on all three throws and Hasselbeck looked comfortable throwing the ball to the big target. He finished the drive off with a 16 yard pass to a wide open Lavelle Hawkins in the corner of the end zone. Hasselbeck was just 4/12 in the second half before the final drive of the game and it was every bit as ugly as it sounds. Three times he far over threw receivers streaking down the field and he had a bad miscommunication with Williams that led to a throw landing 10 yards from anybody. Two of the four passes he did complete were dump offs to Johnson, who they were obviously trying to get involved. He did complete 4 of 5 to start the final drive of the game, but they were short passes in the middle of the field with less than 2 minutes left and no timeouts. All in all, the Titans ran 9 plays in 1:55 for a total of 48 yards. The drive was killed by first a penalty when Hasselbeck snapped the ball before his team was set and then a sack when he had a wide open receiver streaking down the middle. The final 30 yards of the drive came on a catch and run from Lavelle Hawkins from their own 38 with 7 seconds left.
Week 10 at CAR - Matt Hasselbeck had a controlled, poised game under centre for the Titans, keeping the offense on schedule. The Titans offense actually struggled in this game after taking an early 17-0 lead, going three-and-out several times. Hasselbeck did not have any spectacular standout plays; he simply kept things chugging along. Hasselbeck tossed a touchdown pass early to Damian Williams who sauntered into the end zone thanks to some poor tackling from the Panthers. Hasselbeck could have had a couple more interceptions than he did in this game as he was fortunate with a couple of passes thrown away under pressure. His lone interception came on a pass to the outside intended for Donnie Avery. Avery ran a lazy route and did not come back to the football, allowing CB Chris Gamble to pick it off.
Week 11 at ATL - Hasselbeck finally began to show his age in week 11 against the Falcons. Despite playing indoors on turf, Hasselbeck's feet looked tired and his dropbacks looked a beat slow. While he was not heavily pressured, many of his throws were off target or did not give his receivers a chance to make a play after the catch. He struggled to complete half of his passes and checked down to Javon Ringer and Chris Johnson for short gains too often to sustain any long drives. While Hasselbeck continues to be affected by the poor rushing game of his team, there is no excuse for missing wide-open receivers at this point in the season. Hasselbeck's interception came on an awful throw off his back foot intended for Lavelle Hawkins. On the play, Hasselbeck was off-balance and off-target, allowing for a diving interception deep in Titans territory. Hasselbeck was extremely angry with Hawkins after the play although the ball was nowhere near the receiver. Hasselbeck injured his right (throwing) arm and stood on the sideline cheering on Jake Locker for much of the second half. It remains to be seen how much longer Hasselbeck will remain the Titans' staring quarterback with Locker waiting in the wings and the team having lost 4 of 5 games.
Week 12 vs TB - Hass had a pretty atrocious start to the game and went 1 out of 5 for 5 yards and an interception on a terrible decision as he had 2-3 Bucs DLinemen draped all over him and he threw the ball to TB LB Geno Hayes. He settled down and engineered a 6 minute drive that unfortunately did not amount to any points as Rob Bironas could not connect from 42 yards out. In the 1st half Hass only had a 4.5 yd per attempt avg. His 2nd interception was in the 2nd half after a series of turnovers from both teams and this one cost the Titans as Aquib Talib undercut a short pass over the middle and was in the end zone before you could blink. That put the Bucs up 17-10. Hasselbeck continued to struggle much of the day but he did manage to help the Titans come back and get the win although it wasn't on his shoulder but rather Chris Johnson's legs. Hass threw the 4th and goal TD to the back of the end zone to find Damian Williams.
Week 13 at BUF - The Titans stuck mostly to the ground game again this week in a win over the Bills. Hasselbeck had some trouble operating against one of the league's weaker pass defenses and only threw for 140 yards. He did manage the game well, however, and avoided making any big mistakes as the Titans protected their lead in the second half.
Week 14 vs NO - Matt Hasselbeck was mediocre before leaving the game in the second half with a calf injury. Hasselbeck appeared to be injured trying to fight for a pass batter at the line of scrimmage. Prior to the injury, he struggled to sustain drives and mostly checked down to the outlet receiver for a short gain. Hasselbeck's best pass came on a screen early in the game to a wide open Chris Johnson resulting in a 14 yard gain. Hasselbeck seems to have regressed on the field this year. After beginning the year with command of the offense and an on-target deep ball, Hasselbeck looks more and more like Kerry Collins by the week. The loss of Kenny Britt no doubt has affected his ability to throw long passes, but Jake Locker had no such problems in finding receivers downfield when he replaced Hasselbeck. Most significantly, Hasselbeck isn't audibling as much at the line of scrimmage as much any more and it shows. Receivers are not getting open downfield and Chris Johnson has very little room to run. While not all of the offenses struggles can be pinned on the veteran quarterback, the lack of sustained drives comes down to his ability to execute at key moments. For now, Hasselbeck does not seem confident or in control as the Titans quarterback.
Week 15 at IND - Hasselbeck was awful against the Colts. Despite a fairly reasonable completion percentage and yards per attempt, he was unable to lead any sustainable drives. As a result, the Titan offense looked lethargic with him under center. Making matters worse, the Colts defense was clearly fired up and ready to take the game to the Titans. Tennessee, unfortunately, was flat in its response. Hasselbeck routinely chose to make short passes on 2nd and 3rd and long and was completely erratic in throwing the ball long. His two interceptions on the day came on a pass that Jeff Lacey returns for a touchdown and on a deep pass in to triple coverage. Both interceptions came on throws off of his back foot. Despite being a solid and steadying presence for the Titans in the first third of the season, Hasselbeck has been awful in recent weeks. Late in the game he was replaced by Jake Locker. It remains to be seen if he regains the starting role as the Titans play out the string as the loss to the Colts essentially ruins their playoff aspirations.
Week 16 vs JAX - After two weeks of being an average quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck played a game with the fire and skill that will be necessary to hold off Jake Locker for the starting job in 2012. Hasselbeck had most of his success in the middle of the field. His best throws all came between the hashmarks on large gains to Nate Washington (26 yards), Damien Williams (48 yards), and Jared Cook (a 55 yard touchdown). His accuracy to the sidelines was less impressive. The best part of Hasselbeck's performance against Jacksonville was the touch he displayed. Hasselbeck showed masterful velocity control on most every down and distance and routinely placed the ball in a position that only his intended receiver could catch it. Most of his mistakes appeared to occur when the defense made a late shift before the snap or when the defense was in zone coverage. Otherwise, Hasselbeck's performance was his best of the season.
Week 17 at HOU - Matt Hasselbeck's play in week 17 was some of his best of the year. Unlike last week when most of his throws were to the center of the field, Hasselbeck spread the ball around to all distances and kept the Houston defense off balance. Despite a significant pass rush bearing down on him most of the time, Hasselbeck remained poised in the pocket and showed good touch on most of his passes. Most surprising was Hasselbeck's sharp velocity on out routes. He threw a number of balls that quickly reached their target and gave the receiver a chance to make something happen after the catch. Hasselbeck started the game with three straight completions including a nice pass on a wheel route to Chris Johnson that showed excellent awareness of the defense and his own team. Hasselbeck's best throw came on a back shoulder pass to Donnie Avery in the left back corner of the endzone that put the Titans ahead for the first time.