Carroll Unsure of Starting Quarterback

Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll isn't sure who his starting quarterback will be when they host the New Orleans Saints on Saturday afternoon.

"We just figure it out," Carroll said, via Danny O'Neil of The Seattle Times. "I don't even know. You're asking about next week? It's not next week yet."

Veteran Charlie Whitehurst, making just his second NFL start, completed 22-of-36 pass attempts for 192 yards and a touchdown in last night's 16-6 win over the St. Louis Rams. Whitehurst used his legs to pick up 30 yards and buy himself time to throw the ball away when the Rams applied pressure.

Matt Hasselbeck, Seattle's starting quarterback since late in the 2002 season, has a hip/buttocks injury that kept him out of most of last week's practices. The 35-year old reportedly looked good in warm-ups, perhaps well enough to play, but Carroll stuck with Whitehurst in last night's must-win game.

"Matt did a great job of competing to get ready," Carroll said. "And he could have played in this football game, and he wanted to badly. I think even up until the final when we were going out, he was hoping I was going to give him the call. But just the way the whole thing came around, his injury, I just thought he would be too vulnerable. If we didn't have to play him it would be the best thing for us."

Whitehurst didn't do anything to hurt the Seahawks last night, but his performance wasn't enough to give him the edge over Hasselbeck on the quarterback depth chart.

Hasselbeck's health figures to be the determining factor for Carroll.

If Hasselbeck is healthy enough to practice the full week, and signs point to that being the case, he should get the nod to face a Saints defense he completed 32-of-44 passes for 366 yards and a touchdown against in November.

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