Emptying the Notebook: Shaun Alexander

Shaun Alexander

I don't want to cannibalize my season retros too terribly much, and as such I've not included season totals for the stats I record in my The Tape series. Gotta keep ya'll coming back, right? Haha. Anyway, something I was curious about myself was just how many tackles Shaun Alexander has broken for the season. Since I was at it, I decided to compile all of Alexander's stats:

(11 games, not including Baltimore)

Broken Tackle: 15

Good Block: 3

Good Run/Good Cutback: 7

Drop: 6

Unforced Tackle/Missed Hole/Stop/Dance: 29

Blown Block: 3

Not too bad on the blown blocks, eh? Thought I'd try and say something nice there. Here's what's really startling though: 10 of Alexander's broken tackles came in his first game against the Bucs + his first game after returning from "injury" against the Eagles. 5 each, in fact. Join that with his excellent performance last week after only carrying the ball 7 times in Carolina and something very, very, clear surfaces: Alexander plays much, much better after resting a week. That's phenomenally logical, and should motivate Holmgren to sit Alexander this last week against the Falcons. In fact, resting Alexander against the Falcons, playing him in the first round, and then resting him against the Hawks next opponent should they get that far, is a really great idea. He'd be fresh for NFC championship, should Seattle get that far, and given the 2 weeks between that and the Super Bowl, rested for the big game should Seattle get that far.

Instead, I figure Alexander will a get a ton of carries against the Falcons, because he's just one rushing TD from reaching 100. Atlanta has a rotten rush defense, and it wouldn't be at all surprising to see Alexander have a superficially good game, nor will it be surprising when, following 30+ touches against the Falcons, Alexander is cripplingly bad in the Wild Card round. My suggestion is a no lose proposition, Alexander can still get goal line touches on Sunday, get 15+ carries in the Wild Card round, suffer some sort of phantom injury before the divisional round, and make his triumphant return in the final two playoff games. Right? Right?? *Sigh