This guy has some serious cajones. I couldn't dream of playing that long with this injury. Imagine taking hits to the hand and fingers while injured - ouch!!
Source:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2732268
KIRKLAND, Wash. -- Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck revealed on Monday that he played the final eight games of Seattle's season with broken fingers on his non-passing hand.
Hasselbeck, speaking as he and his teammates cleaned out their lockers upon returning from Sunday's overtime loss at Chicago in the NFC divisional playoffs, said he sustained non-displaced fractures of two fingers on his left hand during a win Nov. 27 against Green Bay. That was his first game back following a four-week absence from a sprained knee.
"It wasn't fun," Hasselbeck said of the hand injury. "You appreciate what your teammates go through, because I know there were guys on our team (linemen, linebackers) who had the same injury who didn't get the attention or sympathy that I got."
Earlier this month, Seahawks offensive coordinator Gil Haskell acknowledged "It's bothering the (heck) out of him" on snaps and when he's hit.
Sunday against the Bears, Hasselbeck was hit from behind following a throw early in the game and held his hand while in obvious pain. On fourth-and-1 with Seattle in Chicago territory and two minutes left in regulation, Hasselbeck bobbled the snap. That ruined the timing on Shaun Alexander's run, resulting in a 2-yard loss and leading to overtime.
Coach Mike Holmgren said the hand injury was not the reason Hasselbeck bobbled the snap. The center snapped the ball late.
"I love Chris Spencer ... (but) he held the ball and everyone else moved," Holmgren said. "It was like 'On one.' And he snapped it on 'two.'
"Actually, we could have been called for a procedure penalty. Of all the times I've moaned about calls that they've made against us, I wish they would have made that call."
Hasselbeck finished the season with 18 interceptions in 14 games, after throwing just nine in 16 games last season -- which ended with the eight-year veteran starting the Super Bowl and Pro Bowl.
He played the final seven weeks of this season with a glove over a compression wrap and later tape on his left hand. He and the Seahawks remained coy on whether the hand was bruised or broken, and whether it bothered him during games.
But Monday, Holmgren said he thought the injuries were part of Hasselbeck's inconsistency.
"I think that was part of it," he said.
Hasselbeck played final 8 games with broken fingers
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