Alexander runs with extra purpose

KIRKLAND, Wash. – Even in the final days of the most productive rushing season in his franchise’s history, Shaun Alexander was resolute.

The NFL rushing title would mean nothing to him. He was more focused on winning an NFC West crown.

“It doesn’t really motivate me one way or the other,” Alexander said of the NFL rushing title in the days leading up to the 2004 season finale.

Only after coaches and teammates dwelled on the possibility, he would later say, did Alexander start finding motivation to win the rushing title.

This year, he’s making no such pretensions.

The Seattle Seahawks’ star running back is again in pursuit of the NFL rushing title, only this time around he really wants it.

“This year, I’m like, I wonder what would happen if I kind of paid attention (to his rushing statistics) the whole year,” Alexander said this week. “So, yeah. Is it a life-or-death issue for me? Is it a thing that marks me as a great running back? No. But I’m paying attention to it more.”

Alexander leads the NFL with 574 rushing yards, putting him on pace for a career-high 1,837 over the full 16-game schedule. There is still a lot of football to be played, but Alexander said he has one eye toward a benchmark that eluded him by just 1 yard last season.

“I didn’t even know about it until there were four weeks left last year,” said Alexander, whose 1,696 rushing yards last season were one fewer than NFL champion Curtis Martin of the New York Jets. “And now we were talking about it after Week 4. So it’s totally different. It’s brought up, and it’s definitely known now.”

The infamous finish to last season – the running back told reporters he had been “stabbed in the back” after coach Mike Holmgren opted for a quarterback sneak from the 1-yard line on what would be Seattle’s final offensive play of the regular season – left Alexander’s reputation blemished and his goal unfulfilled. Yet he could be in the rare position to compete for a rushing title again this season.

What’s more amazing is the offense that has led to such lofty numbers. The West Coast system, a variation of which Holmgren runs, has never produced an NFL rushing champion.

“I’m friends with Priest (Holmes) and Marshall (Faulk) and LaDainian (Tomlinson),” Alexander said of three other Pro Bowl running backs. “We golf every summer. Those guys say, ‘That’s not built around you at all. How do you do that?’ I don’t know. God gave me the deck of cards, and I just play.”

The pass-first system has given Alexander enough opportunities to put up four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. He had a franchise-record 353 attempts last season alone.

While a lot has to happen for Alexander to hold on and win the NFL rushing title, he is a near shoo-in to become the Seahawks’ all-time leading rusher within the next two or three games. With 6,511 career rushing yards, Alexander trails franchise leader Chris Warren by 195 yards.

Yet Alexander’s place in the future of the Seahawks is still up in the air. A long-term contract continues to elude him despite the lofty numbers, and while Alexander continues to say that he would like to remain a Seahawk for life, his optimism seems to be waning.

“I’m going to do what I do,” he said Monday. “If Seattle ever decided that they didn’t want me at all, I’d be hurt, but it is what it is. I would just take my game and go help someone else on the field.

“I want to be here, and I want to be a part of this when we win it – and we are going to win it. But if Seattle doesn’t want me, I might shed one tear, and then I’ll go off and help someone else win it.”

With a background in business, Alexander understands the financial importance of winning a rushing title in a free-agent year. But he scoffs at the talk that he’s been running harder this season just because of the possibility of a big payoff.

“Everyone’s like, ‘You’re running so much harder,’ ” he said. “I’m like, ‘No, I can’t say I am.’ People talk about third downs. Well, I didn’t really run on third downs (in the past). Those were (fullback Mack Strong’s) plays. They’re just giving them to me now.”

Holmgren also defended Alexander, saying that the boom-or-bust style of running that has defined the Pro Bowler has been replaced by a more consistent approach.

“I think that is an old description,” Holmgren said Monday. “In the last couple of years, he has changed his style. … If he needs a yard or two for a first down, I expect him to understand that and make a decision himself and run a certain way. But other than that, I think he has good instincts, and I want him to have the freedom to use those.”

Alexander might be running with the same success as last season, but this time he’s hoping for slightly different results. The NFL rushing title isn’t just something his coaches and teammates are discussing; now it’s a topic Alexander doesn’t mind bringing up.

“It’s totally different” than last year, Alexander said. “It’s just different. It’s not really like a motivational point, but it’s like: OK, Shaun, it is out there, and you’re headed there.”