SAN FRANCISCO -- Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was taken to a hospital for X-rays and a CT scan after injuring his ribs on a hard hit late in the second quarter of Sunday's game against the San Francisco 49ers.
The X-rays were negative and the CT scan was inconclusive, according to Seahawks coach Jim Mora, and Hasselbeck rejoined his teammates for the 2-hour flight home shortly after the 23-10 loss to the 49ers.
"It is a rib bruise at this point," Mora said of Hasselbeck's injury. "He's doing much better ... he's feeling much more comfortable. We believe at this point, and it's very preliminary, that he's going to be OK."
On Sunday night, Hasselbeck posted on Twitter: "Going to be alright. Thx to staff at Stanford ..." He also attached a picture taken of him lying on a gurney soon after the injury.
Hasselbeck went down for several minutes with 26 seconds left before halftime when 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis stuck the quarterback in the back as he was trying to dive for the end zone and was stopped at the 1-yard line.
Hasselbeck got up and was wobbly as he made his way to the sideline, where he fell to his knees and was quickly swarmed by Seahawks coaches and trainers.
"I don't know how you tell him to do anything different than he did," Mora said. "You love to see that, but you hate to see the results. We'll keep our fingers crossed."
Backup Seneca Wallace came in on the play after Hasselbeck was hurt and threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Julius Jones to pull Seattle within 13-10.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
