Walter Jones throws shadow on Alexander...

[morgulon1]

Alexander was still good. You guys act like he was chop liver.

I remember when he would come into the game to as a rookie to spell Ricky. You could tell he was electric.

No he wasn't a bruiser. But he wasn't the scrub you all make him out to be.

Haters... There, I said that!

GODSPEED CHOP LIVER GODSPEED !!

 

[morgulon1]

Interestingly enough, moderator status doesn't mean we're chosen for our ability to abstain from having our own opinions be known, nor were we chosen for being statistically (or even morally) correct when it comes to the issues at hand regarding the team. Mods simply are here to assist in keeping kind folks kind to each other. Doesn't mean we aren't bat-shit crazy once in a while, (sorry Sac...).

The fact remains that a signed Shaun Alexander pic hangs on my office wall, and I give it a glance each day with a fond heart. I remember the great times, the numbers accumulated, and the accolades received, but I also remember him falling down into a mass of wrinkled uniform, mud and disappointment after a one-handed foot tackle. That is what was disappointing to me and I wished I didn't have to witness that decline first hand.

The real difference between Marshawn and Shaun, is that SA continued until his play became a liability, and that is the exact truth. Marshawn is leaving having had not disappointed me in the slightest. That, is my point.

Call it the FO's fault, call it the salary cap, the draft, whatever; it was and is the case. Mod or not, I have a memory, and a lot of VHS tapes to refer to that support my position. So fire all the opinions you have in here too so we can read them. I, for one, am interested in hearing the varying viewpoints, and will be judgmental of none of them.

One big difference is the front office during Shaun Alexander's career paid him for his previous seasons. I think that is a poor way of conducting business in the NFL. Pete and John sat down with Marshawn and took care of him while he could still play.
Our current front office doesn't keep people around for a farewell tour. They are honest with themselves and make the hard decisions that have to be made.This is what your better teams do.

 

[scutterhawk]

Yes, and your unsolicited -> OPINION<- on SA means squat.

You are absolutely right, but it isn't just my opinion. I am not saying that I hated Alexander, I am simply stating that I think he was soft.

He picked his battles, and was NOT soft in the Red Zone, and actually pounded in a LOT of TD's.
Other than that, he was smart enough to avoid getting injured, and if that's soft, there are a good many Backs that could have extended their careers by following suit......1,880 Yards is nothing to sneeze at, and if you can come out the other side without having any major injuries?....... all the better.
As for it not being Just your opinion, that point I won't argue, but It is a minority opinion.

 

[seahawkfreak]

I actually think Alexander was the better back to be running behind that awesome line to be honest. In fact I'm not sure Beastmode would have had a lot, or even any more total yards, as he isn't as fast as Alexander.
I guarantee Alexander would have had far less behind our current line though. Both backs were the right type of back for the line they had really.

I've seen at least 3 posts referring to Lynch's speed or lack there of it. Why do many think MA is not fast? Lynch runs a 4.46 40 which is faster than any 40 time I can find on SA. It is also the exact same 40 time Rawls ran.

 

[Smellyman]

I actually think Alexander was the better back to be running behind that awesome line to be honest. In fact I'm not sure Beastmode would have had a lot, or even any more total yards, as he isn't as fast as Alexander.
I guarantee Alexander would have had far less behind our current line though. Both backs were the right type of back for the line they had really.

I've seen at least 3 posts referring to Lynch's speed or lack there of it. Why do many think MA is not fast? Lynch runs a 4.46 40 which is faster than any 40 time I can find on SA. It is also the exact same 40 time Rawls ran.

ML was quick, with good feet.

SA was fast and could outrun even corners which is pretty amazing.

just over 2 mins in as an example.

[youtube]BXttr6qph80[/youtube]

 

[nash72]

I guess if Alexander was just an average back because he ran behind a great line (only the left side mind you), then Emmitt Smith must be painfully average too since he ran behind probably the best line to ever grace the field. Come on people. Big Walt is just patting himself on the back when he says things like that and he's entitled to it, but don't lose sight of what a fantastic athlete and running back Shaun was. Dude was a monster. Comparing him and Lynch is futile because they had two different styles and they were both in different situations.

If my back was up against a wall and I had to choose between the two, I'd take a younger, healthier Alexander, but that's just my opinion.

 

[seahawkfreak]

I actually think Alexander was the better back to be running behind that awesome line to be honest. In fact I'm not sure Beastmode would have had a lot, or even any more total yards, as he isn't as fast as Alexander.
I guarantee Alexander would have had far less behind our current line though. Both backs were the right type of back for the line they had really.

I've seen at least 3 posts referring to Lynch's speed or lack there of it. Why do many think MA is not fast? Lynch runs a 4.46 40 which is faster than any 40 time I can find on SA. It is also the exact same 40 time Rawls ran.

ML was quick, with good feet.

SA was fast and could outrun even corners which is pretty amazing.

just over 2 mins in as an example.

[youtube]BXttr6qph80[/youtube]

Totally agree. SA was almost guaranteed to juke 2nd and 3rd level defenders one on one. I am definitely in the party that Shaun was a great back.

 

[Jerhawk]

I can't believe some of the hate on Alexander. Walters comment is dissapointing.

Shaun was a great back for this team for several years. Comparing him to Marshawn is difficult because they had different running styles.

Shaun was more shifty, looking for the cutback lane. Marshawn wanted to run through a brick wall, while Shaun would've rather ran around it.

Why can't we just appreciate them both and call them both great backs for this team?

 

[DynoHawk]

Throw shadow?

Technically, a shadow is a form of "Shade"

 

[Milehighhawk]

As for the softness of Shaun, on third and short, I would take him over Lynch every day and twice on Sunday. That is no disrespect to Marshawn, but just what it is.

 

[Trenchbroom]

As for the softness of Shaun, on third and short, I would take him over Lynch every day and twice on Sunday. That is no disrespect to Marshawn, but just what it is.

In the red zone, yes.

 

[HawKnPeppa]

Put team on his back and blasted us to relevancy against the Saints and led the way to our Super Bowl wins.................

Umm, 'wins?'

 

[HawKnPeppa]

As for the softness of Shaun, on third and short, I would take him over Lynch every day and twice on Sunday. That is no disrespect to Marshawn, but just what it is.

In the red zone, yes.

Alexander was a great back. It's completely fine to say Lynch is better but I think people are selling SA a little short. You have to be somewhat tough to avg 330 carries over any length of time. Tough crowd.

Agreed.

I also prefer Lynch; but using internet anonymity to call someone who carried the rock that much in the NFL "soft" is ridiculous to me.

We've had at least one mod say this very thing...repeatedly. Drives me crazy.

I don't know if people truly appreciate what it takes to even get through a collegiate strength and conditioning program, nevermind strapping it up and playing pro ball on sundays.

Freaks like Marshawn, Gronk and Watt tip the scale so far that other bad bad dudes don't come across as such.

Indeed. Shaun Alexander seems "soft" if he's only compared to someone who plays like Marshawn Lynch did. (Wow, it stings to write about Lynch in the past tense.) Shaun was one of the tougher guys on the planet if he's compared to the global population during the bulk of his career. In other words, it's a framing bias. Shaun is as tough as whoever he's compared to and we frequently fail to compare him in a context that demonstrates both how awesome and imperfect he was as a player.

Yup! The final play of XLIX would have been a handoff and TD, if we had SA. RZ money for sure!

 

[Scottemojo]

Nothing wrong with Alexander as a back. But this does make me wonder what the opinion of Alexander was amongst his team mates.

Lynch was our team mascot in many ways. Alexander never had style or personality the rest of the team could adopt. I think it is really that simple. Yards and touchdowns and accolades are only a bit of the subtext in that context, and I can absolutely see why Walt would prefer one to the other.
One guy practices doing the sprinkler dance. The other does his practice drills with the linemen, and seeks them out to shake hands after touchdowns.

 

[Tech Worlds]

Nothing wrong with Alexander as a back. But this does make me wonder what the opinion of Alexander was amongst his team mates.

Lynch was our team mascot in many ways. Alexander never had style or personality the rest of the team could adopt. I think it is really that simple. Yards and touchdowns and accolades are only a bit of the subtext in that context, and I can absolutely see why Walt would prefer one to the other.
One guy practices doing the sprinkler dance. The other does his practice drills with the linemen, and seeks them out to shake hands after touchdowns.

Dunno if you can use practice habits the way you are trying to Scott.

Lynch really didn't practice all that much and had special rules that applied to him. Alexander may have had special rules and days off as well but I can't remember.

 

[pehawk]

Nothing wrong with Alexander as a back. But this does make me wonder what the opinion of Alexander was amongst his team mates.

Lynch was our team mascot in many ways. Alexander never had style or personality the rest of the team could adopt. I think it is really that simple. Yards and touchdowns and accolades are only a bit of the subtext in that context, and I can absolutely see why Walt would prefer one to the other.
One guy practices doing the sprinkler dance. The other does his practice drills with the linemen, and seeks them out to shake hands after touchdowns.

I kinda hated Alexander. I also used his tenure as a litmus test to gauge others football acumen (kinda like Flynn vs Russ). But, I will say, he ran hard with no yards left on the field, come playoffs time.

Alexander is Kanye...Lynch is any of, or the entirety of, the Wutang Clan.

 

[TDOTSEAHAWK]

The problem with appreciating Alexander is that his most elite attribute by far was his vision.

If you watch many of his runs, they involve excellent cutbacks into holes that were just opening up and he seemingly hit them out of nowhere.

However, if there were no holes or he lacked the athleticism to get to the holes that he saw, which occurred later on in his career, he looked very pedestrian.

In the end, Alexander was a great running back for the line he was behind and his ability to find holes and run through them made his runs look much more effortless than they were. Furthermore, for his big runs, he still had to find holes at the second and third level - a place where the offensive line often doesn't get - which he did more than average.

Do I think that line could have made any running back a 1000 yard rusher? Sure. Do I think an average rusher would have had 27 touchdowns behind that line - probably not.

With regards to who was better between Lynch and SA - I don't really think there is a comparison - Lynch is the better running back in essentially every major way.

Lynch had a a much worse offensive line and put up five years of production similar to Alexander's and, whereas you could call SA's vision elite, Lynch had elite vision, lateral agility, balance and power. SA probably had a higher top gear speed-wise but if Lynch had sub 4.4 speed - he would be a top-3 RB all-time (with Barry and Jim Brown). Both were serviceable receivers and I don't remember SA's pass blocking too well but Lynch's was quite good.

 

[Scottemojo]

Nothing wrong with Alexander as a back. But this does make me wonder what the opinion of Alexander was amongst his team mates.

Lynch was our team mascot in many ways. Alexander never had style or personality the rest of the team could adopt. I think it is really that simple. Yards and touchdowns and accolades are only a bit of the subtext in that context, and I can absolutely see why Walt would prefer one to the other.
One guy practices doing the sprinkler dance. The other does his practice drills with the linemen, and seeks them out to shake hands after touchdowns.

Dunno if you can use practice habits the way you are trying to Scott.

Lynch really didn't practice all that much and had special rules that applied to him. Alexander may have had special rules and days off as well but I can't remember.

Definitely more accurate to say he did pre practice drills with linemen group. My bad.

 

[vin.couve12]

No question that Alexander benefited from a little Emmitt Smith effect. Neither were as good as they appeared to be statistically.

 

[chris98251]

Put team on his back and blasted us to relevancy against the Saints and led the way to our Super Bowl wins.................

Umm, 'wins?'

Yeah, the one official and the un official Bevell screw up .