Last year, the Madden Curse; this year, the 30 Jinx?

By Chris Cluff  |   Thursday, September 27, 2007  |  Comments( 0 )

Seattle Seahawks
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Last year, it was the Madden Curse. This year, is it the 30 Jinx?

Shaun Alexander was the NFL MVP in 2005 after rushing for a league-high 1,880 yards and setting a league record with 28 touchdowns. Then he signed a huge contract and appeared on the cover of EA Sports' Madden '07; he quickly succumbed to the video game's growing list of victims when he broke a foot in the first game of 2006.

Sufficiently recovered from that unfortunate coincidence - if indeed it was a coincidence - Alexander entered the 2007 season facing the stigma of "the 30-year-old running back." Conventional wisdom has always held - though not always correctly - that 30-something rushers can't carry on as they did in their 20s. It didn't seem like this would be the case with Alexander, who had never been seriously hurt until the broken foot and who is a young 30 in terms of his NFL action and the pounding he has taken.

But then came the first game of this season, and Alexander cracked his wrist - a second straight season-opening setback for the Alabama product.

So is Alexander, Seattle's career rushing leader, destined to become washed up at 30? The answer is no, but it would be nice to see him get healthy and run like he did in '05.

So far in the first three games, he has not always seemed to run as hard as he did in his MVP campaign. Sometimes that has been because there was no hole there. But he also has seemed to be protecting his injured wrist, and his one-armed blocks make him look like a matador without the sword.

It's obvious the injury is bothering him.

"These last three weeks have probably been the most physical for me in a long time," he told reporters after he ran for 100 yards on 21 carries against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Coach Mike Holmgren has seen Alexander's hesitancy running while wearing a cast on the wrist.

"You watch him run, even watch him fall. He's a little reluctant. He's aware of it being there," Holmgren told reporters.

Even with the injury, Alexander has 275 rushing yards and a 4.2 average. He has gotten better as each game has progressed, but his slow starts are a big part of the reason the offense has struggled so far. He has just 71 yards in the first half of the first three games, with an average of 2.4 per carry. By the time he has gotten a little comfortable running with the cast, his second-half numbers have spiked to 204 and 5.5.

It's a sign that once he is healthy, the Seahawks could move the ball on the ground as well as they did in 2005.

For now, Alexander is playing through it. And once the wrist heals, we'll see whether he can overcome the 30 Jinx and return to the top of the NFL's rushing ranks.
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About Chris Cluff

Chris Cluff spent 10 years as an editor and sportswriter for The Seattle Times. He was a key figure in the newspaper's coverage of the Seahawks, particularly during their Super Bowl run in 2005. He also has written two books on the Seahawks: "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Heart-Pounding, ...
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