Can Matt Hasselbeck Operate an Explosive Offense?

A lot was made this week about Nate Washington's comments where he used the term "explosive" to describe the Titans offense multiple times. He talked about Chris Palmer being in the lab and having multiple sets that feature four and five wide receivers. All of that sounds really fun, but there is still one question that has to be answered- who is going to be the quarterback?

The smart money is on Matt Hasselbeck. It is very clear that the front office brought him in to start for two seasons before handing the reigns over to Jake Locker. There has been no indication that they are ready to deviate from that plan. That might be the best thing for Locker's long-term development, but can this offense reach the full potential with Hasselbeck under center?

Hasselbeck played very well last season. He walked into a tough spot and put up numbers that this franchise hasn't seen since the days of Steve McNair, and he did it all without Kenny Britt. The problem is that he didn't look like the same guy late in the season that he did early on. Maybe it was because of an injury, but he was very hesitant to throw down the field in the last month of the season.

For an offense to be explosive, the ball has to be thrown down the field. That is Locker's strength, but an upcoming post from SuperHorn will show us that Locker still has some development to do with his fundamentals before he is ready to really take that next step.

Now if Locker shows that he has made those strides this year in the preseason, he should absolutely be the starter. This offense will be good either way, but the ceiling is much higher with Locker out there. There is no reason to keep him on the bench if he is where they want him to be with his footwork.

To answer the question from the headline, the offense will not be as explosive with Hasselbeck out there as it could be with Locker, but if healthy, Matthew should still be able to make it work.