Alexander pleased to rest knee
KIRKLAND – Amid the rest-versus-rust arguments that come with the annual bye week, Shaun Alexander was taking the selfish approach Wednesday afternoon.
His Seattle Seahawks were given a four-day weekend because they have no game Sunday, and Alexander appreciates the timing of it.
“There’s no part of me that wishes we were playing Sunday,” Alexander said Wednesday as he prepared for a weekend in Los Angeles while the Seahawks go on practice hiatus until next Monday. “I feel like having a full week off is going to be great – for me.”
As statistics have dictated – Seattle is 13-3 when Alexander rushes for 100 or more yards and 14-1 when he scores multiple touchdowns – the Seahawks often go as their star running back goes. So an extra week of healing his sore right knee can’t be bad.
Since he suffered a bruised knee while rushing for 135 yards in the season opener, Alexander has been held to 97 yards on 36 carries over the past two weeks. He admits that his knee has been less than 100 percent during that span.
“It’s one of those things where it feels 80 (percent) at the beginning of games,” Alexander said Wednesday. “Then after two or three runs, it drops a lot, where I’m not sure if I can plant or step. It’s really bad to be guessing in the NFL.
“So if I can get it up into the 90s, where I have more control over how I’m running, then I’ll be all right. The plan is that I will be.”
If a Week 4 bye has any advantage, it’s that early injuries have time to heal before they develop into bigger pains.
That’s the rest part.
As for the rust … well, most Seahawks don’t really believe in that.
“Not at all,” quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. “When you play a game, whatever happens in that game on Sunday, you enjoy it – or you feel bad about it – then on Monday you come in, press the reset button and start over. Guys will go out, take some time off, whatever. Then we’ll come in Monday, press the reset button, next game. No biggee.”
Historically, the Seahawks have stumbled after bye weeks. The team is 3-11 all-time in games played immediately after a bye week, including an 0-5 mark in the Mike Holmgren era. They started last season with a 3-0 record, then took a bye and got pounded 35-13 in Green Bay the following week.
“That was embarrassing,” cornerback Ken Lucas said Wednesday. “We though we had arrived, but we hadn’t done anything yet. That game was a lesson to be learned.”