Alexander deserved to carry the ball, as he's been pretty much the lone bright spot in that Seahawk attack. Good luck resigning him at the end of his contract, Seattle. Personally, I think it's bush-league when coaches pull stuff like this -- it was wrong when Mike Ditka called William Perry's number insead of Walter Peyton's in the Super Bowl, and was wrong when Holmgren did it on Sunday.
Actually, reading that Les Carpenter article (the second one yerfatma links), I'm far more sympathetic towards Alexander now. Granted, Alexander could have won the title outright by rushing a little further on any of the 19 carries he had Sunday, but the reality of these records is you can't predict when or how you'll break it, and usually the difference is close enough that it comes down to a few plays on the final day. And yes, as not-hallowed as NFL records are, compared to numbers like HR, RBI, wins, strikeouts, etc- players still do have a lot of pride, and those in a position to eke out a league-leading value are usually assisted by their teams in that final game. Wasn't it just last year that Lewis was getting every chance by his team to break Eric Dickerson's long-standing record? Can you imagine if Peyton Manning was benched at 47 TD for the rest of the season to prevent him from getting the TD record? Shaun should not have griped so publicly, but it does sound more and more like Holmgren- (a fucking disaster of a hire for Seattle, incidentally, a two-bit hack who only looked good because he had a Brett Favre playing for him)- actively tried to undercut his best player. The genius of great coaches, like a Phil Jackson, is to get your best players to buy into a team system as part of their excellence- not simply to cut them down in their personal achievements like some bitter school marm who silently resents the most talented kids in her class. As Carpenter notes, why risk putting your quarterback into a QB sneak on the eve of the playoffs if you don't need it, especially when the alternative would be to allow your best player to achieve a personal milestone- a win/win situation? I think Holmgren was motivated by money (keeping Alexander from making as much by denying him the rushing title), as well as sheer petulance. That'll work great, Mike, when you lose Alexander to free-agency. Effin' brilliant! Man, what is it about Seattle sports franchises and their uncanny knack for convincing top-tier talent to get the hell out of town?
the rain?
it was wrong when Mike Ditka called William Perry's number insead of Walter Peyton's in the Super Bowl, and was wrong when Holmgren did it on Sunday. true, but payton had the class not to shoot his mouth off in public about it.
Excellent observation. Where the hell is Divine Brown these days? Keeping her head down.
The funny thing is, had he gotten that 1 yard TD instead of Hasselbeck's sneak, he would have tied for the league lead in rushing, not won the thing outright. At any rate, he only has to point to all of his carries for loss this year as to why he didn't get the rushing crown. I'm not sure how many times Curtis Martin was caught behind the line, but Alexander was enough for it to be a factor in this issue.
great links yerfatma.....only my conspiracy theory dies a quick death. ;)
Papers down here are suggesting that the Bay Area could get both of them for next season, Holmgren to coach the Niners and Alexander as Norv Turner's backfield solution in Oakland. Erickson is bad enough but would York really be foolish enough to pay off Erickson to the tune of $7.5M and pay Holmgren anything close to the contract he has in Seattle? Don't get me wrong, I can see a good case for firing Erickson and his staff, an even better one for dumping GM Terry Donohue (what he did to earn a four year extension at the beginning of this season I'll never know) but how about trying somebody fresh, a (preferably defensive) coordinator and not just another recycled white guy?
I think Holmgren thought that they were going to get the ball back. There was a significant amount of time left. One yard? Think of the ball-spots by the refs too, hardly precision stuff. I'm sure half a good agent can get Alexander his 'rush title' equivalent contract bonus. But who knows? Maybe Holmgren thinks that Alexander plays better when angry.
I agree that Holmgren thought they would get the ball back. And according to what I heard on local (Seattle) sports radio, Alexander's record for making the yardarge on 3rd or 4th down with 1 or 2 yards to go is less than 50%. As far as signing Alexander, at the end of this year the Seahawks will have 16 unrestricted free agents and 5 restricted free agents. Included in the free agents are the big three, Alexander, Hasselbeck and Walter Jones. It appears that the Seahawks can not afford to sign all three, some of that money (please, please, please) has got to be used to buy some defensive players. Given the durability of running backs in the NFL versus QB's and offensive LT's, I would be shocked if they let Hasselbeck or Jones go so they could sign Alexander.
