TK Posted October 31, 2003 Share Posted October 31, 2003 http://www.redskins.com/story.asp?ContentID=12185 Hasselbeck to Serve As No. 2 Quarterback 10/31/2003 By Gary Fitzgerald Redskins.com Tim Hasselbeck will back up starting quarterback Patrick Ramsey in this Sunday’s game at Dallas, head coach Steve Spurrier said. Hasselbeck, who signed with the Redskins 10 days ago and underwent what amounts to a crash course in learning Spurrier’s offense, impressed coaches with his veteran presence and how quickly he learned the offense. Hasselbeck had been competing for the backup slot with rookie seventh-round draft pick Gibran Hamdan during practice this week. “We’re going to let Tim be the second guy,” Spurrier said. “He can call our snap count and he’s very comfortable with all the runs. If he has to play, we’ll have a package of plays that he knows. “Gibran has done all right, but Tim—even though he’s only played some pre-season games in the NFL—has a little bit more experience and seems to have more of an overall veteran feel to him.” Hasselbeck had been out of football after being released by the Philadelphia Eagles in training camp 2003. The 6-1, 211-pound quarterback completed 21-of-39 passes for 205 yards in four pre-season games. He was briefly a backup at Philadelphia and Carolina in 2002 and was a practice squad member with the Eagles in 2001. “I just thought about coming in and learning as much as I could as fast as I could,” Hasselbeck said on Friday. “Whatever decision was going to be made by the coaches wasn’t going to affect me. I knew I was either going to be the second or third quarterback.” Said Hamdan: “My knowledge is similar to the knowledge that Tim has, but I’m very book-oriented right now just because I haven’t gotten into many games and being able to experience it live.” In learning Spurrier’s offense, Hasselbeck focused more on the game plan against Dallas than in studying the actual playbook. “That’s the way it’s going to go this season,” he said. “Obviously as the season goes along, I’ll retain a lot of this information that I’ve learned so far and it’ll carry over to the next week and the following week. And I’ll learn some more of the little wrinkles as we play more teams.” Hasselbeck said he learned many of the offensive calls by studying the terminology and watching game tape of previous Redskin games. “You have to learn things in pieces,” he said. “The first thing you have to do is learn the formations. You have to learn the run plays and pass plays—and the footwork for those plays. One way I did that was going through all the Redskin games of this season and watching Patrick run the offense. I watched his footwork and how the routes were run.” Does Spurrier anticipate the Dallas defense trying to increase the pressure on Ramsey, due to the relative inexperience of Hasselbeck? “No, not any more than any other team we’ve played this year,” Spurrier said. “I think any team when they get a chance to legally hit the quarterback, they take it. But in the NFL, you can’t go after a quarterback. You get fined for late hits on quarterbacks, hard hits and helmet-to-helmet hits on quarterbacks. I really believe most teams play within the rules.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WallyG3 Posted October 31, 2003 Share Posted October 31, 2003 The Honey Glazed One must be horrible if the new guy beat him out in a week. How embarassing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaping lizzy Posted November 1, 2003 Share Posted November 1, 2003 I just signed onto the board wondering if somebody knew who the back-up was going to be? I'm always amazed how fast some of you guys get us info. onto this board. I thought for sure that Hamdan would be the back-up. As I recall in training camp it sounded like a lot of people were saying what a strong arm Hamdan had and that he was doing pretty good for a rookie? Beat out by a guy with only one week on the team, that doesn't sound so good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inmate running the asylum Posted November 1, 2003 Share Posted November 1, 2003 If Hasselbeck can come in and learn the offense in 10 days, that doesn't say much for Hamsandwich. Of course I never thought much of Hamsandwich anyway, after checking out his passing record in college. The guy has a strong arm. So what? He couldn't read defenses in college. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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