Seattle's '09 Fortunes Rest on the Healthy Back of Matt Hasselbeck

On a local radio show a couple of months ago while his team was preparing for a very important draft, Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselback said it best when describing the team's performance last year: "We just never got in a groove due to all the injuries."

It was a simple, yet poignant, observation of what ailed a team that was 10-6 and the NFC West division-winner the previous season—A team that was one Brett Favre miracle performance away from being on the door step of a second Super Bowl appearance.

Unfortunately, Favre and running back Ryan Grant were phenomenal on that snowy January day in 2008 and the Seahawks were sent home to brood about it during the offseason.

Without many key players headed to free agency, the Seahawks were most assuredly looking forward to a second chance in the postseason.

They never got it.

Injuries to key players left Seattle with practice squad receivers in the starting lineup by week three. While the offense was left searching desperately for its lost chemistry, a previously solid defense had suddenly become as soft as Charmin Ultra.

Ultimately, the 2008 brand of Seattle Seahawks football was never quite right. With injuries to key personnel throughout the season, the team was a shadow of its former four-consecutive division title-winning self.

Instead of a deep playoff run like it envisioned, the team finished 4-12—third in the NFC West.

This year, the Seahawks enter the 2009 campaign with a new coaching staff after Mike Holmgren stepped down after a 10-year run as a head coach in the NFL.

Up steps Jim Mora, the assistant head coach for the last two years on Holmgren's staff, with a future full of optimism.

Although aging in certain areas, the Seahawks still have many key holdovers from its Super Bowl squad of 2005-06, and a roster chock full of talented and experienced players. Most importantly however, is the return of a fully healthy Hasselbeck.

Now seven full months removed from the back injuries that plagued him all last year, Hasselbeck says he's 100 percent and ready for a deep postseason run.

As long as Hasselbeck is kept out of the trainer's room and on the field for Sunday afternoons, the Seahawks will have a very promising outlook for 2009.

The key will be keeping him off his back and that duty, of course, lies with the offensive line. After suffering through injuries of its own last year, this year's unit should be younger, deeper, and more talented with an offseason to train and learn a new system.

Drafting the versatile center/guard Max Unger from Oregon also gives the Seahawks a lot of flexibility on the offensive line, something they badly needed after losing injury-prone veteran Floyd "Pork Chop" Womack to free agency.

Of course, this year's optimistic outlook could be curtailed again by a repeat scenario from last year.

Injuries to a group of wide receivers that, despite the addition of T.J. Houshmanzadeh, still relies on injury-riddled stars Deion Branch and Nate Burleson could prove debilitating.

Moreover, if an aging Walter Jones is unable to stay healthy and a somewhat young offensive line is unable to gel, not only could Hasselbeck be back on the sidelines, but this team could be in a downward spiral with no real end in sight.

In the end, it comes down to injuries. In 2009, Seattle has to hope it's injury-riddled year is behind them.