Alexander "The not so Great"

[skinstzar]

I myself am usually not a huge believer in stats, however as I started to look into the season of Shaun Alexander I began to realize why the Seahags haven't been so eager to re-up him and keep him around long term. Alexander’s season totals are as follows.

370 carries
1880 yards
27 TDs

Awesome numbers no doubt. Now let’s look into the defenses that Alexander went up against. Here are some interesting tidbits.

-Did you know that Alexander faced only one of the top 10 defenses in the league? That defense was the Arizona Cardinals. They are ranked exactly 10th in rush defense. Oh, he played them twice.

-Did you know that the average rushing defensive rank of Alexander's opponents is 18th. That right. 18th.

A casual football fan might say so what to the above mentioned stats. Maybe he rushed well against the upper echelon teams that he played against. Well here are his numbers against rushing defenses ranked 10-15

NY- Ranked 11th in rush D. Couldn't find the total number but the entire team only had 127 yards on 34 carries and they played an extra quarter

Wash- Ranked 12th in rush D. He had 20 carries 98 yards

Jax- Ranked 13th 14 carries 73 yards

Dallas- Ranked 15th 21 carries 61 yards

Wow that is impressive right? So where did he get all of his yards? He did play 6 games against the NFC West. In those six games he got 820 of his 1880 yards. Again, this is against teams the likes of SF, ranked 16th in rush defense, St Louis ranked 29th, played them twice. Sprinkle on top a little bit of Houston ranked dead last at 32nd in the league he got 141 of his 1880 right there and 4 touchdowns. Interesting note, Maurice Morris also had over 100 yards in that game for the Seasluts. WHO? Muarice Morris?

I think we can all agree that the Seahawks motor is fueled by Alexander. The pundits sit atop their thrones at ESPN and SI, claiming "Alexander the Great", "Alexander the Great". These pontificators are paid insane amounts of money to do the research, find the facts. Know a bit about what the vomit they spew from their flapping gums. I don't have access to the tools that these fools do. I don’t have all the time in the day to spend on such trivial things. I simply followed the two links listed below to find everything I ever needed to know about Shaun Alexander's magical season. The experts are merely a bunch of sycophants who drool over anyone they deem to be great. It is sickening and it is an insult to good fans. Fans like us fans of the greatest team in the history of sport. Fans who know of what they speak.

http://www.nfl.com/stats/teamsort/NFL/DEF-RUSHING/2005/regular

http://www.nfl.com/teams/schedule/SEA

We should respect the Seahawks, but by no means should we feel like we can't win this game. Don't fall victim to the media hype behind one Shaun Alexander. He is a fraud.

Sorry for the long post.

[PhoenixSkinsFan]

Good post. I think everyone can agree they have benefited from their soft and weak schedule.

Maybe after this week, the mediots will recognize exactly what we have going for us this year.

You can make a parellell to NCAA Hoops and easy non-conference schedules. They'll go undefeated in their easy games then lose to a decent team. UConn and Lville ring a bell.

[NattyLight]

Good facts.

18 Touchdown (7 games). 12 were against the 32nd, 31st, and 30th ranked defense. The other 6 were against the Cardinals.

[bnacpa]

Great stuff ... I never stopped to add up the yards he got against the weaker run defenses .... interesting how about 1,000 of his yards came against the NFC West and Houston. Hopefully we hold him to 100 + 1 TD or less .... I agree with the posts that say that the main concern is Hasselback. He is very streaky and can get over confident ... so if we get him rattled early, hopefully we will have a big day.

The other thing we need to do is stop playing so conservatively. We need to sustain long drives by changing up play calling so that we don't have so many 3 and outs. The thing that really really scares me is how many 3rd and longs we converted against Seattle. It was a fluke for our team to convert so many ... considering that we have struggled for the most part all season unless beating up on a team like San Francisco. I hope that we come out blazing and that we don't let up. Having a very very strong offensive performance (4 TD's or more) would shut up the media and really intimidate the team we face next weekend.

[skinstzar]

The reason I couldn't find the rushing stats for Alexander in the Giants game was because the only mention of Alexander in the recap was this

"In that opening half, the Giants' slanting and scheming defense throttled the Seahawks' top-ranked offense. New York followed Dallas' successful script of last month by shoving as many as nine defenders close to the line of scrimmage against NFL rushing leader Shaun Alexander, daring Seattle to win through the air."

We all know that if the Seafairies go to the air against us they are going to get smacked. ST is pissed and we are finally close to healthy at D-back.

[Bigmuss1]

Nice post, however they did finish with 13 wins and that is tough to do in the nfl. I completely agree, we need to go out there with respect, but certainly not fear. They need to fear the white on white!!!

[The Top Cat]

Hawks fan here.

The secret to SA's success is threefold.

1. Walter Jones LT (All Pro)
2. Steve Hutchinson LG (All Pro)
3. Mack Strong FB (All Pro)

SA isn't chopped liver either though, but the left side of the Seattle line is totally legit and Strong is a great blocking back.

[NOVA2Tampa]

Nice post, however they did finish with 13 wins and that is tough to do in the nfl. I completely agree, we need to go out there with respect, but certainly not fear. They need to fear the white on white!!!

True, they did finish 13-3, but the Redskins could have easily finished 13-3...we had the Tampa Bay, Oakland, and San Diego games won, but let them slip away at the end. NFW Seattle goes 13-3 if they were in the NFC Beast!

[PhoenixSkinsFan]

Hawks fan here.

The secret to SA's success is threefold.

1. Walter Jones LT (All Pro)
2. Steve Hutchinson LG (All Pro)
3. Mack Strong FB (All Pro)

SA isn't chopped liver either though, but the left side of the Seattle line is totally legit and Strong is a great blocking back.

SA, 1, 2, and 3 all benefit from soft D-lines also. Keep trying though.

[NattyLight]

Hawks fan here.

The secret to SA's success is threefold.

1. Walter Jones LT (All Pro)
2. Steve Hutchinson LG (All Pro)
3. Mack Strong FB (All Pro)

SA isn't chopped liver either though, but the left side of the Seattle line is totally legit and Strong is a great blocking back.

Agreed. It's going to be hard knock blocking that is going to be the key to Alexanders success. If your O-line can out last our D-line. Alexander will be productive. However, I don't see him breaking many as our LB's are really amped about life.

[Truant]

He did pretty well against us and could have done more if they weren't losing.

He is a quality back behind a great line, so i'm not sure if I see the "not so great" part... but I hope you're right.

[regularjoe]

Hawks fan here.

The secret to SA's success is threefold.

1. Walter Jones LT (All Pro)
2. Steve Hutchinson LG (All Pro)
3. Mack Strong FB (All Pro)

SA isn't chopped liver either though, but the left side of the Seattle line is totally legit and Strong is a great blocking back.

Honestly, if I had to pick one key to the game, it's here.

Daniels/Salave'a/Arrington or Washington must at least be able to battle to a draw here.

I think Jones is the real deal at LT and better than Samuels.

[skinstzar]

Hawks fan here.

The secret to SA's success is threefold.

1. Walter Jones LT (All Pro)
2. Steve Hutchinson LG (All Pro)
3. Mack Strong FB (All Pro)

SA isn't chopped liver either though, but the left side of the Seattle line is totally legit and Strong is a great blocking back.


The left side of your O-line is phenomenal. We just have the guys to fill the gaps. Lavar Arrington will blow up your guard-Tackle gap and our pure speed and pursuit will stop Alexander all day long. Sean Taylor, Ryan Clark, Carlos Rogers, Walt Harris, Shawn Springs. These guys play the run better than any secondary in the league. They are always around the line in support and will make it a very long day for Mr. Alexander.

Keep in mind that Shawn Springs knows Mike Holmgren and this offense in and out. You give Gregg Williams an insider like that and you can forget about it. On to Chicagolina.

[darrell1106]

Hawks fan here.

The secret to SA's success is threefold.

1. Walter Jones LT (All Pro)
2. Steve Hutchinson LG (All Pro)
3. Mack Strong FB (All Pro)

SA isn't chopped liver either though, but the left side of the Seattle line is totally legit and Strong is a great blocking back.

And guess who's side of the field that belongs to................#56 Lavar Arrington....Tell SA to not let up when he sees that train coming because right behind him will be Lemar, than MW and ST will finish him off. I hope he enjoys that left side:notworthy

[prophet]

any skins fan that says alexander is a joke... is pretty much a football moron.

alexander is one of the top 3 rbs in the nfl. I don't care what schedule he had. You don't put up 1800 & almost 30 tds on acident.

[Aghar]

This is a dangerous thread. Believe me, I happen to agree that this year the Seahawks are overrated because of the soft schedule but it's not like this guy just decided to have a breakout year this year! He has been a solid back for a number of years now. I'm not saying we can't stop him but he deserves the respect our D seems to be giving him in the early interviews I have seen. His only weakness, and this could come into play BIG TIME this weak, is that I don't believe he is a great reciever out of the backfield. He has a tendancy to drop more passes than he makes. That is a big disadvantage and one of the main reasons why people don't consider him the best "running back" in the league. They look towards guys like LT and Tiki because of their total yards from scrimmage, not just rushing yards anymore. :2cents:



:seahawksu :point2sky

[skinstzar]

any skins fan that says alexander is a joke... is pretty much a football moron.

alexander is one of the top 3 rbs in the nfl. I don't care what schedule he had. You don't put up 1800 & almost 30 tds on acident.


Ladanian Tomlinson
Larry Johnson
Clinton Portis
Tiki Barber
Duece Mcallister (when healthy)
Edgerrin James
Lamont Jordan

All of these players can do more than simply run off the left side. Sean Alexander is a beneficiary of a great left tackle and guard. Nothing more. Why do you think the Seahawks haven't inked him. If he was one of the 3 best backs in the league they would have signed him by now. Read the original post also. Maurice Morris averaged over 4 yards a carry for this team. The only morons are the clones who believe whatever espn and their fantasy football board tell them.

[skins4eva]

Alexander is a great back--but he can and will be shutdown

[demarc007]

We'll see how Alexander feels in the 4th after he's been cracked all day by our D. He hasn't felt the physicality of the East or hardly any physical D for that matter. He better bring his hard hat.

[cjcdaman]

We'll see how Alexander feels in the 4th after he's been cracked all day by our D. He hasn't felt the physicality of the East or hardly any physical D for that matter. He better bring his hard hat.


I agree. That's basically why I think we will win the game. Seattle hasn't been in many dogfights this year. We've been in many. I've already read where some of the Seahawks were saying the last game against us was very physical. And it's only going to be more physical this week.

[Martini]

Wow good post. The numbers dont lie.

[Skins n' Bones]

Alexander is a very good back, not to be underestimated, but his numbers have been inflated by their soft schedule.

How come all the mediots talked down the 12-4 Jaguars because "they didn't really play anybody", but the soft schedule 13-3 Seagulls are praised??? The Jags were beaten in the playoffs by a solid, blue-collar type team with a very good defense....and so will the Seagals!!!

[zt155]

Wow that is impressive right? So where did he get all of his yards? He did play 6 games against the NFC West. In those six games he got 820 of his 1880 yards. Again, this is against teams the likes of SF, ranked 16th in rush defense, St Louis ranked 29th, played them twice. Sprinkle on top a little bit of Houston ranked dead last at 32nd in the league he got 141 of his 1880 right there and 4 touchdowns.

Awesome post. Only thing is Arizona is a NFC West team, not Houston. It really doesn't disprove anything you said, just FYI.

[smartestmaninamerica]

It is odd that when the talking heads on the various cabel and network outlets drool over a team's success, they never seem to consider strength of schedule at all.

We would have gone 15-1 against Seattles schedule.

[Skins11]

I agree. That's basically why I think we will win the game. Seattle hasn't been in many dogfights this year. We've been in many. I've already read where some of the Seahawks were saying the last game against us was very physical. And it's only going to be more physical this week.

I don't think the Seahawks are a soft team at all. We'd be silly to think that. But no, they haven't experienced anything close to what we faced this year.

[Ghost of Nibbs McPimpin]

Look at most QB and RB ratings, their numbers against excellent Ds tend to go down.

This doesn't mean they aren't any good.

[skinstzar]

Awesome post. Only thing is Arizona is a NFC West team, not Houston. It really doesn't disprove anything you said, just FYI.


I just wanted to spice up the fact that they didn't play anyone. I of course know that Houston is not even in the NFC. I also realize that Seattle is a good team. What I can't understand is why people get paid so much money to be so wrong. If I presented something to someone I wanted to persuade I wouldn't just spout garbage. This is basically what the media does. They find the flavor of the month and slobber all over it. The fortunate side to this, however, lies in the Vegas odds. Most books are giving the skins 9 points. We only lost by a touchdown or more once this season and that was the first Giants anomaly. Take the points to the house.

[28beerslater]

It is odd that when the talking heads on the various cabel and network outlets drool over a team's success, they never seem to consider strength of schedule at all.

We would have gone 15-1 against Seattles schedule.

Haha. I bet you would. We sat our starters against GB so that would be 14-2. Our only two losses then are road trips to the east coast, where we play terrible, against playoff teams early in the season. You really play this SoS card anymore. Yes we played a lot of weak teams. But we beat them. What else can we do? You guys can say the same thing except Oakland at home. Yes you play KC, SD, and Denver but you lost all 3. And this great win streak you're riding into the playoffs is from beating:
St. Louis
Arizona
Dallas
NY Giants
Philly
Hmmm....we've beaten all of them.
The Skins are a really good team and the game will be closer than some people think, but don't play the SoS card.

[Awesome2]

I think Jones is the real deal at LT and better than Samuels.
Are you joking?

I'm a Redskins fan and I have no problem at all saying that Jones is the best LT in the league, not just the "real deal".

Samuels is above average but he doesn't come anywhere close to being on the same level as Walter Jones.

[SkinFan63]

Yeah, we already know they had a "Charmin....Squeezabley Soft" schedule.
But let's take a good look at OUR defense.

We shut down Keshawn what's his name and that other guy in Dallas.
We shut down Tiki what's his face in New York.
We shut down Cadillac what's his name in Tampa. (Oh yeah, Pinto Williams)
Anyone care to take a guess at who we're going to shut down this weekend?
Alexander who?



Hail!:point2sky

[28beerslater]

Wow good post. The numbers dont lie.

The numbers don't matter. The game will come down to who wants it more.

[28beerslater]

Yeah, we already know they had a "Charmin....Squeezabley Soft" schedule.
But let's take a good look at OUR defense.

We shut down Keshawn what's his name and that other guy in Dallas.
We shut down Tiki what's his face in New York.
We shut down Cadillac what's his name in Tampa. (Oh yeah, Pinto Williams)
Anyone care to take a guess at who we're going to shut down this weekend?
Alexander who?



Hail!:point2sky

You live up in the CR? I'm in Des Moines. And it's not our running game you need to worry about. That's a big misconception. If you key in on Shaun, we will kill you through the air. You need to worry about stopping our mid-range passing attack. Shaun will get his yards but your good run D will keep it reasonable.

[grego]

Look at most QB and RB ratings, their numbers against excellent Ds tend to go down.

This doesn't mean they aren't any good.

thats definitely true. and alexander is excellent, even with the weak schedule. i will say that his numbers vs the best 3 D's he played are not impressive. vs jax, dallas, and wash, he didnt get over 100 yards and scored all of 1 TD. those teams managed to hold the seahawks under each of their averages of points given up per game as well. true, seattle isnt expected to put as many points vs decent D's, but it is worth noting.

[prophet]

98 yds 1 td, and 4.9 yards a carry against our defense.... I guess that says it all.

If that is shuting down a back... i guess we are aiming really low. A shut down is what the bucs did to portis, and what we did to williams.


We are talking about a guy here that has 87 tds in 5 seasons as a starter.

[Henry]

Let's not get carried away guys. If it were easy to gain 1900 yards and 27 TDs against an easy schedule it would happen more often. Alexander had the ninth best season in NFL histry yardage-wise and the very best scoring-wise. That's impressive against no matter who you're playing.

He's a good player having a great year. We definately need to worry about him this week.

[skinstzar]

You live up in the CR? I'm in Des Moines. And it's not our running game you need to worry about. That's a big misconception. If you key in on Shaun, we will kill you through the air. You need to worry about stopping our mid-range passing attack. Shaun will get his yards but your good run D will keep it reasonable.


"We will kill you through the air"?

Again, the Seabiscuits only played against 2 of the top 10 passing defenses in the league this year. The Skins at 10 and the Jags at 7.

Vs Skins Hasslesack had 242 yds one TD
Vs Jags 246 2tds 3 Ints

Guess what lost both of those. We aren't the Giants, We aren't the Cowboys. We have good LBs and Dbacks. The Gulls are outmatched across the board.

[ntotoro]

98 yds 1 td, and 4.9 yards a carry against our defense.... I guess that says it all.

Over 1/3 of that came on one run when our Defense was still particularly weak on the outside. He'll be facing a different Defense than last time.

[The Top Cat]

Look at most QB and RB ratings, their numbers against excellent Ds tend to go down.




Common sense suggests that would be rather typical would it not?

[lunarluau]

Good post with interesting tidbits, but 1,880 yards and 28 TDs is impressive any way you slice it.

[skinstzar]

Let's not get carried away guys. If it were easy to gain 1900 yards and 27 TDs against an easy schedule it would happen more often. Alexander had the ninth best season in NFL histry yardage-wise and the very best scoring-wise. That's impressive against no matter who you're playing.

He's a good player having a great year. We definately need to worry about him this week.


Ask yourself. Is he a better running back than Portis? Is he a better football player than Portis? Yes Alexander is good but he isn't even the best running back playing in the game on Saturday. Yet he is treated like the second coming of Jim Brown by some. I just want the staff and players to get the credit they deserve. I know they are focused and don't care about accolades but as a fan with some free time I want to tear apart the validity of the press and make it known to all who will listen that the Redskins are the better team in this game. Top to bottom. F the Seahawks.

Sorry I am on a soapbox today.

[lunarluau]

F Alexander!!!!!!


:seahawksu :seahawksu :seahawksu :seahawksu :seahawksu :seahawksu :seahawksu :seahawksu :seahawksu :seahawksu :seahawksu :seahawksu :seahawksu :seahawksu :seahawksu :seahawksu :seahawksu :seahawksu :seahawksu

[SkinFan63]

You live up in the CR? I'm in Des Moines. And it's not our running game you need to worry about. That's a big misconception. If you key in on Shaun, we will kill you through the air. You need to worry about stopping our mid-range passing attack. Shaun will get his yards but your good run D will keep it reasonable.

Des Moines eh??
Nice to meet you.
Trust me, it won't be just Seattle's running game shut down.
After Alexander gets knocked around by our Defense, and they try to go to the air, Mr Taylor and company will be there to crack some helmets.
It's going to be a really good game.
But we have been in the trenches for 6-weeks, and Seattle has not.
I think that will become quite evident in the second half.

Hail!:point2sky

[Gusthecat]

Seattle’s Unbeatable Offense
Seattle has only played 5 teams who ended up with winning records this year—they won three of these. They beat two teams who made the playoffs: the New York Giants when Jay Feely missed 3 game winning field goals, and the Indianapolis Colts who had already clinched home field advantage and were still in shock about the death of the coach’s son.

Seattle’s high powered offense averaged 33.5 points per game against the ten teams they played with loosing records and 19.2 point per game against the 5 teams with winning records. They beat 8-8 Atlanta 21 to 18. There opponents included Houston, San Francisco (2), Arizona (2), Tenn., Green Bay, St. Louis, Philadelphia. By the way San Francisco, St. Louis and Houston are the three worst defenses in the NFL.

Washington has played 10 games against teams with winning records—7 of those against teams with 10 or more wins. They are 4 and 4 against playoff teams, if you count both games against Tampa.

[TheDane]

Some of you all need to get a reality check. The guy ran for almost 1,900 yards, and scored almost 30 touchdowns. Give me a break, that's extremely impressive; I don't care if you're playing the 49ers every week.

Even if you take something away from Alexander, you HAVE to give a lot of credit to Walter Jones, Steve Hutchinson, and Mack Strong. Those guys have paved the way for a lot of those yards...and that ain't easy to do in a professional league with gameplans designed to take away the run game.

Alexander is an upper eschelon back. The Seattle o-line is a top eschelon line. In fact, of all the things that scare me this weekend, their offensive line is Number 1. Alexander is a close Number 2.

If we can't figure out a way to exploit their o-line, we're in trouble. No matter how patsy cupcake the Seahawks' schedule was.

[carlsbadd]

Yeah, we already know they had a "Charmin....Squeezabley Soft" schedule.
But let's take a good look at OUR defense.

We shut down Keshawn what's his name and that other guy in Dallas.
We shut down Tiki what's his face in New York.
We shut down Cadillac what's his name in Tampa. (Oh yeah, Pinto Williams)
Anyone care to take a guess at who we're going to shut down this weekend?
Alexander who?



Hail!:point2sky


We did not shut down Tiki in New York, he had over 200 yards against us.
It was at Fed EX that we shut him down.


We should be worried about Alexander he is a great back no matter who they played.
We need to concentrate on getting Portis and Betts going and keep him off the field.

[Sunburn]

Alexander may be the best runner in the NFL. He's overrated in that he's a mediocre reciever and bad blocker. That's probably why the Seahawks wanted to trade him last year. I don't know why Shaun is so bad at blocking. Work on that in the offseason, and he could be REALLY good.

But right now, bring him on. We beat the Hawks before.

[flave1969]

I myself am usually not a huge believer in stats, however as I started to look into the season of Shaun Alexander I began to realize why the Seahags haven't been so eager to re-up him and keep him around long term. Alexander’s season totals are as follows.

370 carries
1880 yards
27 TDs

Awesome numbers no doubt. Now let’s look into the defenses that Alexander went up against. Here are some interesting tidbits.

-Did you know that Alexander faced only one of the top 10 defenses in the league? That defense was the Arizona Cardinals. They are ranked exactly 10th in rush defense. Oh, he played them twice.

-Did you know that the average rushing defensive rank of Alexander's opponents is 18th. That right. 18th.

A casual football fan might say so what to the above mentioned stats. Maybe he rushed well against the upper echelon teams that he played against. Well here are his numbers against rushing defenses ranked 10-15

NY- Ranked 11th in rush D. Couldn't find the total number but the entire team only had 127 yards on 34 carries and they played an extra quarter

Wash- Ranked 12th in rush D. He had 20 carries 98 yards

Jax- Ranked 13th 14 carries 73 yards

Dallas- Ranked 15th 21 carries 61 yards

Wow that is impressive right? So where did he get all of his yards? He did play 6 games against the NFC West. In those six games he got 820 of his 1880 yards. Again, this is against teams the likes of SF, ranked 16th in rush defense, St Louis ranked 29th, played them twice. Sprinkle on top a little bit of Houston ranked dead last at 32nd in the league he got 141 of his 1880 right there and 4 touchdowns. Interesting note, Maurice Morris also had over 100 yards in that game for the Seasluts. WHO? Muarice Morris?

I think we can all agree that the Seahawks motor is fueled by Alexander. The pundits sit atop their thrones at ESPN and SI, claiming "Alexander the Great", "Alexander the Great". These pontificators are paid insane amounts of money to do the research, find the facts. Know a bit about what the vomit they spew from their flapping gums. I don't have access to the tools that these fools do. I don’t have all the time in the day to spend on such trivial things. I simply followed the two links listed below to find everything I ever needed to know about Shaun Alexander's magical season. The experts are merely a bunch of sycophants who drool over anyone they deem to be great. It is sickening and it is an insult to good fans. Fans like us fans of the greatest team in the history of sport. Fans who know of what they speak.

http://www.nfl.com/stats/teamsort/NFL/DEF-RUSHING/2005/regular

http://www.nfl.com/teams/schedule/SEA

We should respect the Seahawks, but by no means should we feel like we can't win this game. Don't fall victim to the media hype behind one Shaun Alexander. He is a fraud.

Sorry for the long post.


Do you really believe he is a fraud?

I mean that is crazy. In 6 seasons he has 7817 at 4.6 ypc and 89TD's on the ground, add another 1387 yards receiving and 11 TD receptions. That is not a fraud. Since he became a starter he never scored less than 16TD's in a season. That is not a fraud, that is a good football player. All he has done is produce year in and year out for the Birds.

Is Clinton a fraud because he struggled his first year here. Hell no. He did the best he could with the tools he had to work with. Was he a fraud this year because in NFC East games he traditionally struggled. No off course not. Many people thought Clinton was a fraud because he couldn't produce his Denver numbers, I am delighted he proved the doubters wrong.

Too me Alexander would be potentially a fraud if he failed to produce against this years schedule, but he didn't. When you play good D's your numbers go down, witness Saturday and Clinton's 53 yards(considering his health a good performance).

I think you are way off. That said here's to 29 yards on 25 carries for Alexander.

[SkinFan63]

We did not shut down Tiki in New York, he had over 200 yards against us.
It was at Fed EX that we shut him down.


We should be worried about Alexander he is a great back no matter who they played.
We need to concentrate on getting Portis and Betts going and keep him off the field.

I was referring to the last 5 games of the season.
Sorry.

Hail!:point2sky

[LD0506]

With all the stat-tossing and record wrangling going on here, I still keep coming back to one thought, this game is gonna live and die by the quality of the tackling. Alexander is a damn good back, I won't try and take anything from him, and especially since he has been doing it consistently for several years now, but that FIRST GUY has to hit-n-stick, even if he doesn't bring him down he has to wrap up and hold on until Lavar or Marcus can get there to rock him, and that first guy is gonna be Carlos or Harris or Clark, whatever, but I think that's going to make the diff

[jpeyster]

Obviously the guy is NOT a joke, or mediocre or anything like that. But this stat stands out to me:

4 games vs. the NFC East: 91 carries, 318 yards, 3.49 yards per carry.

Also, as far as scheming to defend him, the fact that he only had 15 caches for 78 yards also sees pretty important. He is not a Tiki Barber/Ladanian Tomlinson type dual-threat back. Still don't want to let him have 10 yards of cushion on a swing pass, but our linebackers can really pin their ears back in this game.

[president]

I myself am usually not a huge believer in stats, however as I started to look into the season of Shaun Alexander I began to realize why the Seahags haven't been so eager to re-up him and keep him around long term. Alexander’s season totals are as follows.

370 carries
1880 yards
27 TDs

Awesome numbers no doubt. Now let’s look into the defenses that Alexander went up against. Here are some interesting tidbits.

-Did you know that Alexander faced only one of the top 10 defenses in the league? That defense was the Arizona Cardinals. They are ranked exactly 10th in rush defense. Oh, he played them twice.

-Did you know that the average rushing defensive rank of Alexander's opponents is 18th. That right. 18th.

A casual football fan might say so what to the above mentioned stats. Maybe he rushed well against the upper echelon teams that he played against. Well here are his numbers against rushing defenses ranked 10-15

NY- Ranked 11th in rush D. Couldn't find the total number but the entire team only had 127 yards on 34 carries and they played an extra quarter

Wash- Ranked 12th in rush D. He had 20 carries 98 yards

Jax- Ranked 13th 14 carries 73 yards

Dallas- Ranked 15th 21 carries 61 yards

Wow that is impressive right? So where did he get all of his yards? He did play 6 games against the NFC West. In those six games he got 820 of his 1880 yards. Again, this is against teams the likes of SF, ranked 16th in rush defense, St Louis ranked 29th, played them twice. Sprinkle on top a little bit of Houston ranked dead last at 32nd in the league he got 141 of his 1880 right there and 4 touchdowns. Interesting note, Maurice Morris also had over 100 yards in that game for the Seasluts. WHO? Muarice Morris?

I think we can all agree that the Seahawks motor is fueled by Alexander. The pundits sit atop their thrones at ESPN and SI, claiming "Alexander the Great", "Alexander the Great". These pontificators are paid insane amounts of money to do the research, find the facts. Know a bit about what the vomit they spew from their flapping gums. I don't have access to the tools that these fools do. I don’t have all the time in the day to spend on such trivial things. I simply followed the two links listed below to find everything I ever needed to know about Shaun Alexander's magical season. The experts are merely a bunch of sycophants who drool over anyone they deem to be great. It is sickening and it is an insult to good fans. Fans like us fans of the greatest team in the history of sport. Fans who know of what they speak.

http://www.nfl.com/stats/teamsort/NFL/DEF-RUSHING/2005/regular

http://www.nfl.com/teams/schedule/SEA

We should respect the Seahawks, but by no means should we feel like we can't win this game. Don't fall victim to the media hype behind one Shaun Alexander. He is a fraud.

Sorry for the long post.

#1) I want your job - nice post...very well thought out.
#2) I knew Redskins fans would find a way to bash Alexander...all he did is have a record breaking season. Your right - he sucks.
#3.) You have no clue - the motor the Seahawks is the offensive line, furthermore we pass to set up the run. Hasselbeck throws a lot of passes and Alexander gets his groove as teams begin to respect the passing game.
#4.) Of course you have a chance to win the game...this is why they play the game.
#5) Relax - yes Seattle had a somewhat soft schedule....not there fault. In fact, I hope Seattle plays a soft schedule every year so we can win lots of games and host homefield every single year.
#6.) Your post is another example of how Redskins fans are worried about this weekends game. I sense anger and a very defensive approach with the deep digging of stats to find that one thing to hold onto.

..Hey look at this when its 55 degrees and raining Clinton Portis only rushes for 65 yards and Brunell is undefeated. Please.

[redsand521]

President, you're right. We are worried. And Seahawks fans should be worried too, because the game can go either way.
All the stats being dug up won't matter once the teams hit the field. The only problem I'm having is the Redskins aren't even being given a chance based off of ONE game with a bad offense. Is that fair? No, our offense is better than that. I don't believe that any credit should be taken away from the Seahawks. Like Gibbs said they earned they home game and bye, regardless of their strength of schedule. I'm looking forward to a game that will be closer than anyone thinks. Hopefully there won't be as many injuries as our last game.

[spanishomelette]

From what I've seen Shaun Alexander has done nothing except improve by leaps and bounds every season the last 3 seasons at least..not just in statistics, but in physical and mental toughness. Much more than just a 'very good' back IMO.

Redskins will have their hands full on D that's why I'm hoping for some kind of Redskins offensive resurgence or 2nd wind.

[seanyt]

I had actually thought about this before, kind of like the yards a team gets in the 4th qtr with less than 5 minutes down by 24, a classic case of "Garbage Yards"...

[Trufant23]

I myself am usually not a huge believer in stats, however as I started to look into the season of Shaun Alexander I began to realize why the Seahags haven't been so eager to re-up him and keep him around long term. Alexander’s season totals are as follows.

370 carries
1880 yards
27 TDs

Awesome numbers no doubt. Now let’s look into the defenses that Alexander went up against. Here are some interesting tidbits.

-Did you know that Alexander faced only one of the top 10 defenses in the league? That defense was the Arizona Cardinals. They are ranked exactly 10th in rush defense. Oh, he played them twice.

-Did you know that the average rushing defensive rank of Alexander's opponents is 18th. That right. 18th.

A casual football fan might say so what to the above mentioned stats. Maybe he rushed well against the upper echelon teams that he played against. Well here are his numbers against rushing defenses ranked 10-15

NY- Ranked 11th in rush D. Couldn't find the total number but the entire team only had 127 yards on 34 carries and they played an extra quarter

Wash- Ranked 12th in rush D. He had 20 carries 98 yards

Jax- Ranked 13th 14 carries 73 yards

Dallas- Ranked 15th 21 carries 61 yards

Wow that is impressive right? So where did he get all of his yards? He did play 6 games against the NFC West. In those six games he got 820 of his 1880 yards. Again, this is against teams the likes of SF, ranked 16th in rush defense, St Louis ranked 29th, played them twice. Sprinkle on top a little bit of Houston ranked dead last at 32nd in the league he got 141 of his 1880 right there and 4 touchdowns. Interesting note, Maurice Morris also had over 100 yards in that game for the Seasluts. WHO? Muarice Morris?

I think we can all agree that the Seahawks motor is fueled by Alexander. The pundits sit atop their thrones at ESPN and SI, claiming "Alexander the Great", "Alexander the Great". These pontificators are paid insane amounts of money to do the research, find the facts. Know a bit about what the vomit they spew from their flapping gums. I don't have access to the tools that these fools do. I don’t have all the time in the day to spend on such trivial things. I simply followed the two links listed below to find everything I ever needed to know about Shaun Alexander's magical season. The experts are merely a bunch of sycophants who drool over anyone they deem to be great. It is sickening and it is an insult to good fans. Fans like us fans of the greatest team in the history of sport. Fans who know of what they speak.

http://www.nfl.com/stats/teamsort/NFL/DEF-RUSHING/2005/regular

http://www.nfl.com/teams/schedule/SEA

We should respect the Seahawks, but by no means should we feel like we can't win this game. Don't fall victim to the media hype behind one Shaun Alexander. He is a fraud.

Sorry for the long post.

Whatever helps you sleep better at night..

[SkinsFanMania]

Hawks fan here.

The secret to SA's success is threefold.

1. Walter Jones LT (All Pro)
2. Steve Hutchinson LG (All Pro)
3. Mack Strong FB (All Pro)

SA isn't chopped liver either though, but the left side of the Seattle line is totally legit and Strong is a great blocking back.

Steve Hutchinson is a FA in the offseason and we should consider signing him, although I don't think we will have the cap space necessary to do so.

[Trufant23]

Steve Hutchinson is a FA in the offseason and we should consider signing him, although I don't think we will have the cap space necessary to do so.

Or the draft compensation.

He's going to be tagged if he's not re-signed before FA begins.

[redsand521]

Hey Trufant, quick question. Has Seattle signed Alexander to a long term deal yet?


Think he'll test the market?

[Trufant23]

Hey Trufant, quick question. Has Seattle signed Alexander to a long term deal yet?


Think he'll test the market?

Hasn't happened yet, wouldn't surprise me if Shaun hits the market but I think he will wind up back in Seattle seeing as how the only teams in need of a RB that can afford him are teams like the Cardinals..

He has it made in Seattle and the city could be his.. I don't see how he leaves personally.

[MeNoRevs]

What explains last year then whe he lost the rushing title by one yard?

He is a horse to bring down, really good speed and a great OLine in front of him. Anyone that think that Alexander is not a top 5 RB in this league need to start watching other sports, like shuffleboard.

[young23554]

Alexander is fun to watch. He helped my fantasy team lol

[TheShredder]

Love the post.

Hate the media slant against the respect of our Skins.

Let's play. We need to cheer them home for the Parade!

[Almost Wrote Them Off]

sean taylor said it best...

"respect? we don't need no respect, just watch us play."

yes i'm worried about the seahawks, but, on the flipside, i think we have a very great chance at beating them.

[SkinsFTW]

Alexander the great scored 21 of his 27 touchdown in 8 games against weak opponents.

Need more?

[flave1969]

Alexander the great scored 21 of his 27 touchdown in 8 games against weak opponents.

Need more?


His 100 career TD's in 6 seasons were not all against weak opponents. It is easy to take one season in isolation, but remember he has five consecutive 1000 yard seasons since he became starter in Seattle, never scoring less than 16 TD's in any of those seasons.

Of course he can be stopped but to call him a fraud is ridiculous, just ridiculous. I am glad Gregg Williams doesn't think like you guys and will put in the extra time to try and stop Alexander without over commiting to one thing.

Punishing a specific player for playing well, whoever the opponent is, is a waste of time.

[A7XFollower]

what a great post for somebody to read just starting out on this site.
hail to the skins:point2sky

[C-Trey]

I myself am usually not a huge believer in stats, however as I started to look into the season of Shaun Alexander I began to realize why the Seahags haven't been so eager to re-up him and keep him around long term.

Awesome numbers no doubt. Now let’s look into the defenses that Alexander went up against. Here are some interesting tidbits.

-Did you know that Alexander faced only one of the top 10 defenses in the league? That defense was the Arizona Cardinals. They are ranked exactly 10th in rush defense. Oh, he played them twice.

-Did you know that the average rushing defensive rank of Alexander's opponents is 18th. That right. 18th.

A casual football fan might say so what to the above mentioned stats. Maybe he rushed well against the upper echelon teams that he played against. Well here are his numbers against rushing defenses ranked 10-15

NY- Ranked 11th in rush D. Couldn't find the total number but the entire team only had 127 yards on 34 carries and they played an extra quarter

Wash- Ranked 12th in rush D. He had 20 carries 98 yards

Jax- Ranked 13th 14 carries 73 yards

Dallas- Ranked 15th 21 carries 61 yards

Wow that is impressive right? So where did he get all of his yards? He did play 6 games against the NFC West. In those six games he got 820 of his 1880 yards. Again, this is against teams the likes of SF, ranked 16th in rush defense, St Louis ranked 29th, played them twice. Sprinkle on top a little bit of Houston ranked dead last at 32nd in the league he got 141 of his 1880 right there and 4 touchdowns. Interesting note, Maurice Morris also had over 100 yards in that game for the Seasluts. WHO? Muarice Morris?

We should respect the Seahawks, but by no means should we feel like we can't win this game. Don't fall victim to the media hype behind one Shaun Alexander. He is a fraud.

Sorry for the long post.
lemme guess, you were one of those people saying we were going to stomp on the Giants in NY because we went into that game with the #2 offense and #5 defense in the NFL?

you say you're not a big believer in stats, yet go on a long-winded statistical breakdown of Alexander's season which completely contradicts your claim to not care about stats. most of your statistical ammunition is predicated on how opposing teams' defenses ranked. while it may be true that the average rank of his opponents' rushing defenses was 18th in the league, did you bother to look at the numbers behind those league rankings? probably not, because if you did I seriously doubt you would have made such a big deal about it. for example, the difference between the #1 ranked rushing defense (in total yards allowed) and the 18th ranked rushing defense is 29.8 yards per game. that's one decent run. that's the difference between Shaun Alexander's day vs. the Redskins and Alexander's day vs. the Redskins without the one decent run he had. it's not that much.

but instead of focusing on the league's margins, let's look at the middle quartiles, because the numbers get much more dense in the middle of the pack. for example, 20 yards more allowed per game is the difference between 7th in the league (KC) and 22nd in the league (Tennessee). wanna hear the real ballbuster? KC's average yards allowed per rush: 4.1; Tennessee's: 4.2.

ergo, the real number you should be looking at is yards allowed per rush. that is the great equalizer, not total rushing yards allowed. did you know that our beloved Redskins finished 21st in the league in yards allowed per rush? that's 10 spots behind the lowly 49ers, who finished 11th in the league in that statistic. a difference of HALF A YARD allowed per rush takes you from 7th in the league (Baltimore, 3.7/rush) to 25th (Cleveland, 4.2/rush).

my whole point is that the NFL has more parity than any other professional sports league. all these guys are professionals. hiding behind statistics won't get you anywhere, because the differences between first and worst, and especially the middle quartiles of the league, really isn't all that much. the simple fact is it all comes down to who executes better on the given day.

lastly, just in case you needed more evidence that Seattle is going to be a formidable opponent despite all the junk-statistics flying around about them, here's a "statistic" that is predicated on rankings, like your entire post: Seattle's offense's yards per rushing attempt rank: 3rd in NFL. Redskins' defense's yards allowed per rushing attempt rank: 21st in NFL.

don't get me wrong, we can definitely beat them and I love the Redskins as much as anyone, but I certainly do not think Seattle is the uber-paper champion everyone is making them out to be.