Hasselbeck talks coaches, future

A sore right wrist from the regular-season finale means Matt Hasselbeck probably won't play golf this week in Arizona or next week in Hawaii. But the Seahawks quarterback won't need surgery and says he will play in the Pro Bowl.

"It's not perfect," Hasselbeck said in a phone call Tuesday from the Super Bowl media center in downtown Phoenix. "I don't think I'm ready for the golf course yet, but I should be OK in about a week."

This is vacation time for Hasselbeck, who is in Arizona with his mother, Betsy, promoting Campbell's Chunky Soup's can donation program to national and local food banks.

Hasselbeck can presumably relax a little knowing that at least one of his mentors will be back. The past two weeks have seen major developments with the Seahawks, and Hasselbeck is directly affected. He is glad to know coach Mike Holmgren will return for one more season, but faces a big change now that former quarterbacks coach Jim Zorn has become the Washington Redskins' offensive coordinator.

"I wasn't sure if he was going to come back or not," Hasselbeck said of Holmgren. "The challenge for us will be to really come together as a team so next year we get to play in this game."

That being the Super Bowl. Hasselbeck said he wished he were in Arizona for the same reason as the New England Patriots and the New York Giants — to play for the NFL championship.

"You work so hard all year long," he said. "We were two games away. Had we played better in the regular season maybe we don't have to go to Green Bay. You just have to use it as motivation for next year."

As for Zorn, Hasselbeck said he's happy for the former Seattle quarterback who worked with him from the first day Hasselbeck became a Seahawk in 2001. He said he hopes Zorn can be there for some occasional advice.

"I don't know the right words," Hasselbeck said when asked about Zorn being gone. "It's almost like he's heartbroken to leave Seattle. This is the NFL, and when you do well and you are successful, you get a promotion. He's meant a lot to my career. He has taken me from a guy who'd thrown 29 passes [in two seasons in Green Bay before being traded to the Seahawks] and nowhere to the person I am now."

Hasselbeck is the face of the Seahawks, but made it clear he isn't part of the decision-making process when it comes to what improvements the Seahawks need to make for the 2008 season or who will be the new quarterbacks coach.

"My job is to make it work with whatever we have on the field," he said. "We've got to find a way to get it done."

That mission starts after the Pro Bowl when offseason workouts begin. First there are rounds to make on Radio Row at the Phoenix Convention Center with his mom, doing their part to tackle hunger.

The Hasselbecks were among a group of NFL players and their mothers who starred in the soup commercials that aired this season. Hasselbeck became a fan of the Campbell's ad campaign because of the late Reggie White, Hasselbeck's teammate in 1998 and a former pitchman.

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com