A few thoughts on Shaun Alexander being cut today by the Seahawks. We'll resume the Moment of Truth Series tomorrow night.

You'll probably read or hear from some people that once Alexander got his big contract after his MVP season, he basicaly has mailed it in. They'll site evidence of not wanting to get hit and hesitating at the line. They'll also point to his lack of productivity, especially last year.

He was due to make almost $5 million this year and based on last year's productivity, he wasn't worth it. So the Seahawks had to cut him, it was their only option.

However, I want to address criticism of Alexander's play last year.

I was fortunate enough to follow Alexander's career through college. Even though he was a great college running back he stayed in Gene Stalling's dog house for years. He has always looked like a guy that wasn't giving 100%. I say looked, because he always hesistated at the line and was slow to get up from tackles. He had a 200+ yard game against LSU as a freshman (many of the highlights are included in the video link below) and didn't even start the next game.



As you can see in this video here, Alexander had plenty of highlight moments. But one thing he also had, was a great offensive line. Notice the huge holes on many of these highlight plays. If you'll notice on the majority of these plays, he's running on the left side. Notice the left tackle on the offensive line. That's Chris Samuels, who's been the starting left tackle for the Washington Redskins since forever.

So even in college, Alexander hesitated at the line in order for plays to develop. On many plays, he was able to turn a stop at the line into a 4 yard gain. Those types of plays add up over time and were what made Alexander so special. He also had a knack for getting those extra yards in the open field and using his blockers to make a 5 yard gain a 15 yard gain.




Once Alexander got to Seattle, he was in Mike Holmgren's dog house as well. Apparently for the same reasons. Holmgren and Stallings both thought he needed to work harder in practice and show more intensity in the games. Just as in college, Shaun needed a couple of years for the head coach to warm up to him.


After a few years, Alexander became the starting running back in Seattle. Again he had a dominant offensive line which allowed him to wait for holes to open up in order to get those 5 extra yards.

A couple of things have hurt him over the last few years. First, Seattle's offensive line isn't as dominant as it was over the prior years. Second, Alexander started to get older. As with all good running backs, they start to fade around age 30. Most people who haven't followed him over his entire career will say that he was "dogging" it once he got the big contract the last few years. "Look at the way he approaches the line", they would argue. I would counter that arguement with the college video linked above. He's been doing that forever, it just seems that he's a step slower and doesn't have the burst he once had.


So when you see analysts use video and show how he avoids contact and hesitates at the line, realize that he's been doing that for years. What was he supposed to do at age 30? Change his whole style of play? That just wasn't going to happen.


Hopefully he'll get picked up somewhere else and contribute. But he's probably on the downside of his career. Unfortunately in football, there's always someone else out there that has taken less punishment and is a step faster.