Epic Drop: The Seahawks Release Shaun Alexander

Over at the Carnival today, I took a pretty long and involved swipe at Shaun Alexander; you are, of course, more than invited to go check it out, and when you're done with that and this, click on the Alexander tag to see what's been said about him before. But I'd like to go into more depth -- and hey, it's a blog, I can do that -- on his situation.

When Alexander was booed last year, no one in the media or the Hawk management wanted to acknowledge what was plainly obvious to anyone watching the games: he was spent, done, fork time, and it had nothing to do with an arm that was going to get better. He had no burst, few good carries, and had the Duce Staley Steeler Problem of First Contact always being Last Contact.

Look, it's not hard to tell when a RB is spent. It might be the easiest personnel decision for any coach or fan. He gets caught from behind by bigger men who aren't freakishly talented. He never breaks a tackle. He can't get outside before the pursuit. The yards per carry numbers, especially in comparison to other backs on the team, tell you all you need to know, assuming he is not getting every single carry, and no NFL team does that anymore.

So last year in Seattle, it was obvious to anyone who had eyes that Alexander couldn't help them anymore, and that the Hawks were an infinitely more dangerous team with him out of the lineup, even if that meant throwing on every down. (Lest you forget in the aftermath of the Packer playoff loss, Matt Hasselbeck had a fine year.)

So where was the media to, you know, report on what was actually news? Alexander wasn't doing anything on the field to merit playing time. The paying public was supporting his efforts in a positively East Coastian manner. (Give it up for Seahawk Fan: he knows his ball, cheers hard, and has suffered. I'm impressed.) And the media... talked about how the line wasn't doing the job. Or how Alexander was gamely running with a bad arm. Or that Hasselbeck was great.

Seriously, guys, call the game in front of you. Tell the truth, especially when it's obvious. People don't like it when you lie to them, even about things as trivial as who is going to run the ball for a middling playoff team from a terrible division. And it undermines their faith and respect in anyone that calls themselves a journalist. (For the record, that doesn't include me. I'm just a guy with a blog that, you know, has no skin in the game on whether Shaun Alexander is a nice guy and good interview. Which means that I can notice in public when he's spent...)