Giants Won't Be Able to Knock Matt Hasselbeck Out This Weekend

Seahawks enter Sunday with tons of holes caused by injuries

The Giants have made a name for themselves this season by knocking out opposing quarterbacks. They won't get a chance to add a notch on their bedposts for Matt Hasselbeck.

Seattle announced Thursday that their starter would remain on the sideline this weekend with Jesus body double Charlie Whitehurst getting the call in his place. Whitehurst has never started a NFL game before and hasn't even attempted a pass in a regular season game, which certainly makes it seem like Pete Carroll is punting on this week in an attempt to get his team ready for a big divisional game against the Cardinals next week. 

Giants fans with a long memory will tell you not to count your chickens before they've hatched. They'll sit back and reel off a list with names like Craig Krenzel, Todd Collins, Jeff Garcia, Brad Johnson and Matt Moore as proof that Tom Coughlin's history against backup quarterbacks leaves quite a bit to be desired. They might even reach deep into the past for names like Doug Johnson and Kurt Kittner to try and argue that the Giants are simply cursed when it comes to playing against backups.

While we admire the ability of any fan to find some reason to feel miserable in amid a four-game winning streak, we can't really get on board this particular train. Whitehurst is just one of many Seahawks reserves who will be playing this Sunday because of injuries that have the home team looking like they might need players to go both ways.

The Seahawks placed starting guard Ben Hamilton on injured reserve this week and starting left tackle Russell Okung missed last week and hasn't practiced all week. Neither has his backup Tyler Polumbus. Top wide receiver Mike Williams is trying to recover from a knee injury, while wideout/punt returner Golden Tate is dealing with an anle problem. Their two best defensive tackles, Colin Cole and Brandon Mebane, are hobbling and another one, Red Bryant, joined Hamilton on injured reserve.

That's pretty brutal. Qwest Field is a very tough place to play, but it would have to actually come to life and devour a few members of the Giants to even things up come Sunday. If the Giants are the team that we've been told they are for the last couple of weeks, this should be an easy victory. If they don't, at least we'll get a total moritorium on Super Bowl talk in these parts for a few weeks.

Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com. You can follow him on Twitter.

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