RENTON, Wash. -- Pete Carroll certainly isn't shying away from playing up the uncertainty about his quarterback situation.
The Seattle Seahawks coach remained evasive Wednesday about who his starting quarterback will be come Saturday's NFC wild-card playoff game against the New Orleans Saints. Carroll continued to say that Matt Hasselbeck and Charlie Whitehurst will split reps in practice and both will be available to play.
Asked if he knew who the starter would be and was just playing coy, Carroll said, "You'll never know."
"We'll just leave it open. I want to get all the days in here. Each day is important for us to see how we're doing, to see how Charlie's doing, just figure out where it is," Carroll said. "I feel very comfortable with what we're doing as far as their turns and reps. Both the quarterbacks are dead into this as much as they can be, and we'll have them both available."
Whitehurst started last Sunday night against the St. Louis Rams in place of Hasselbeck, who strained a hip muscle one week earlier against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Whitehurst threw for the only touchdown of the game in Seattle's 16-6 victory that clinched the NFC West title, although Hasselbeck went through pregame warmups and appeared to look fine.
Carroll later said he went with Whitehurst because he had taken all the snaps in practice and concerns over Hasselbeck's lack of mobility because of the injury.
With the duo splitting time in practice this week, that favors Hasselbeck, considering his experience with nine career playoff starts.
"If it was going to lessen one guy's ability to play, we wouldn't be doing it," Carroll said. "Matt can handle it this way, and it gives Charlie a chance to be prepared for this game as well -- not as well as he would be like last week (where) he had every rep. Charlie needs the turns more -- he's the first-time starter -- without question, so it doesn't help him as much. But Matt can handle this."
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press
