Alexander will be hard to replace

NFL teams are on the clock. They’re always on the clock. Time passes at warp speed. Eras end almost as quickly as they begin.

Time isn’t marching, it’s sprinting in Seattle. The Shaun Alexander era is over, the Mike Holmgren era is ending and, this off-season, the Seahawks are taking the first small steps toward post-Holmgren Seattle.

The X’s and O’s may look the same. The West Coast still is the offense of choice. But the faces and the personalities are changing rapidly.

Next season’s roster has a dramatically different look from the roster of the 2005 Super Bowl team. Wide receivers Joe Jurevicius, Darrell Jackson and D.J. Hackett are gone, so is tight end Jerramy Stevens. Kicker Josh Brown is in St. Louis. Only two of the five offensive linemen who started in Detroit in Super Bowl XL (Walter Jones, Sean Locklear) will start for the Hawks in 2008.

Late Tuesday afternoon, Alexander, the most productive running back in Seahawks history, who has scored 112 career touchdowns, was released.

In the NFL, time waits for nobody, not even a Pro Bowler, not even a player who, in the 2005-06 season, took this team and this town on one of its most exhilarating sports rides.

Only two seasons have passed since Alexander was named the league’s most valuable player. But in those two seasons, he has been ravaged by injuries and stalked by time.

A broken foot refused to heal in 2006. A troubled wrist required a cast for most of last season. A body that passed 30, the magic number for running backs, began to show its age. And, in the last two seasons, his willpower waned.

The Hawks got as much as they felt they could get out of Alexander. He had a remarkable run in Seattle, but he has passed his last physical, his wrist has healed and his time has come. Another important piece of the Holmgren era is gone, another sign this franchise is in transition.

The Seahawks are attempting the delicate process of changing on the fly. They are revamping, without rebuilding. Winners of the past four NFC West titles, they expect to continue winning despite this obvious metamorphosis.

The Holmgren Era isn’t over, but it will look much different in 2008. How different? In 2005, the Seahawks scored a league-leading and franchise-record 452 points. Players who scored 416 of those points no longer are on the team.

Alexander scored 28 touchdowns in the Super Bowl season. Jurevicius scored 10, Stevens five, Jackson three and Hackett two, among others. Brown kicked 18 field goals and 57 extra points.

The only remaining scorers from 2005 are wide receiver Bobby Engram (three touchdowns), quarterback Matt Hasselbeck (one), running back Maurice Morris (one) and linebacker Lofa Tatupu (one).

Those are startling numbers, evidence of how quickly life changes in the NFL. Now, entering 2008, the Hawks are looking for another tight end, looking for another dependable receiver, looking for more offense to replace those missing 416 points.

Change is all around. Alexander, who was a home-run-hitter of a running back, instinctive and always looking to pop a game-breaking run, has been replaced by two very different backs, Julius Jones and T.J. Duckett.

Jones is a draw-play specialist who sprints through slivers in the offensive line. Duckett is a load, all meat and potatoes.

And Alexander is gone. Three years ago, he was on top of the world. Now he is looking for a job. Change happens that fast. For most of his eight seasons, Alexander, who turns 31 in August, found the end zone the way a divining rod finds water.

His release isn’t surprising. As soon as Jones and Duckett were signed, Alexander became expendable. Still, there’s no joy in this inevitability. Alexander was symbolic of everything that has been good about football in Seattle since the Hawks moved to Qwest Field.

Alexander with the ball in the red zone was money. He was the surest thing in Seattle sports since Gary Payton with the ball on a fast break.

He helped make the darkness of autumn and early winter in Seattle feel lighter. In his time he was a great running back.

But careers die quickly in the NFL. Change happens fast. The Seahawks of 2008 are much different from those Super Bowl Hawks.

This is a team in flux. And Shaun Alexander is gone.