the TiVo quarterback

My favorite athletes, like longtime hero and current San Diego pitcher Greg Maddux, are consummate students of the game. Seattle QB Matt Hasselbeck is certainly among that number, reports ESPN's Mike Sando.

This is how home-game Saturdays go for Seattle's three-time Pro Bowl quarterback. His wife, Sarah, takes the kids out of the house. Hasselbeck hits the playbook and watches the opponent's recently televised games, looking for clues not found in the snap-to-whistle clips NFL teams assemble from elevated sideline and end-zone cameras.

Right away Hasselbeck noticed something he only could have seen on the televised version.

Carolina tended to open games in the "Bear" defense made famous by Buddy Ryan. The opposing offense would adjust, and someone on the Panthers would call an audible.

"Move!" the defender would yell, and the Panthers would get into their preferred defense, leaving the offense at a disadvantage. This is when the team-shot video would normally pick up, but the broadcast version exposed the Panthers' tactics.

"NFC Championship Game, first play, I couldn't believe it, they lined up in a Bear defense," Hasselbeck said. "And in that same voice I heard on TiVo, I go, 'Move!' "

The Panthers moved.

Seattle stuck with its original play.

"It was awesome, like a 12-yard gain to Bobby Engram, naked bootleg to the left," Hasselbeck said. "It set the tone. I was feeling very good about the game after that one."

The Seahawks won, 34-14.

Read the whole thing to get a glimpse of his weekly regimen. The technology and the game may change, but one thing stays the same: nerds rule.