Pagano: Hasselbeck the likely starter vs. Jaguars

Matt Hasselbeck was pulled late in Sunday’s lopsided 45-10 loss in Pittsburgh after injuring his neck on two separate plays. Besides for the Hasselbeck injury, the Colts suffered a couple of other injuries worth noting during Sunday’s loss as well.

Tomlin, bracing himself for at the media reaction said, “I didn’t see it. But I’m sure we’ll rehash it and rehash it a thousand times in the next six days and suck all the life out of it”. “Ben was Ben tonight and those guys did a nice job of getting open and making plays for him”. “If we have to monitor or limit some reps, certainly we’ll do that”.

That’s better news than initially feared. Shortly after the Colts touchdown however, the Steelers found their rhythm. Besides the play in the third quarter where Hasselbeck fell to the ground in pain, where he appeared to initially get hurt came on a first-quarter blitz from cornerback Will Allen.

Hasselbeck left the game in the 4th quarter after it was out of reach, listed with a neck and shoulder injury. If Hasselbeck can’t go, say hello to the Charlie Whitehurst Era. It was another dominating performance for a unit that has enjoyed many of them in the past month.

On the Steelers next two possessions they had a few opportunities to score touchdowns but missed on both drives.

Either way, the quarterback situation would be a far more pressing issue if the Colts were in the place where they expected to be – at or near the front of the field chasing the Super Bowl. It’s unlikely that Andrew Luck is ready to return; Colts owner Jim Irsay said the team is targeting Week 15 to have Luck back.

As a starter, Hasselbeck has had two solid games and now three bad ones.

In his past four games, Roethlisberger threw for 1,533 yards with 12 touchdowns and four interceptions. He was sacked twice.

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Matt Hasselbeck (8) signals during the second half of an NFL football …

“I just feel a chemistry growing between us on offense”, Roethlisberger said.

After Sunday’s visit to Jacksonville, the Colts entertain the Texans Dec. 20, are at Miami Dec. 27 and close the regular season at home January 3 against Tennessee. In 10 seasons, Whitehurst is just 193 of 348 with 2,179 yards, 10 touchdowns and six interceptions.

If you’re looking at the big picture, and I heartily suggest that you do in order to stave off depression, the Colts didn’t lose a thing Sunday night. He had eight catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns against the Indianapolis Colts, his seventh 100-yard game this season.

“We knew it was coming and we didn’t handle it well”, Hasselbeck said. “If there is a quarterback change, which I don’t expect, we’ll all have to pick up our game”. If he emerges from the week of prep unscathed, Pagano said that the graybeard quarterback should be under center this Sunday in Jacksonville.

OG-Hugh Thornton (elbow)-Should be back to practice on Wednesday.