The Seahawks add Shaun Alexander to the Ring of Honor today. In truth, Alexander is the one who honored the Seahawks throughout his career. As great as it is, he deserves even more.
The Seahawks are addressing what I see as an egregious oversight this Sunday. No, I’m not talking about the horrendous run defense, although it would be nice to see some improvement there. No, I’m talking about something – and someone – absolutely timeless. At long last, the Seahawks greatest running back ever, Shaun Alexander, will be inducted into the Ring of Honor.
Now, I don’t use the term “greatest ever” lightly. I’m certain that most 12s already know this, but the younger fans, the more recent arrivals to the tribe of 12, may not be aware of the true greatness of Shaun Alexander. He wasn’t just great or the greatest. He was miles beyond any running back in Seahawks history.
Shaun Alexander deserves even more than the Seahawks Ring of Honor
John Boyle summed up Alexander’s career rather nicely in his article on seahawks.com. I won’t list all of the amazing achievements here; you can click on the link for that. As a bonus, you get all of Boyle’s excellent writing. Suffice it to say that in addition to holding the Seahawks all-time records for rushing yardage and touchdowns, Shaun Alexander holds nine other Hawks career records. It isn’t that he hasn’t had competition, either.
The Seahawks have had quite the roster of talented running backs over the decades. Name like Curt Warner, Chris Warren, and Marshawn Lynch are right behind number 37. I’ll add two more players, Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny. If not for injuries, either one of them may have broken into the top three for the Hawks. Who knows, Penny may still be able to do so, although it certainly won’t be this year. With better luck, the roster of Hawks running backs with gaudy career stats would be even longer.
Shaun Alexander was practically the Seahawks best two running backs
Want to see just how amazing he was? Let’s get just a little mathy and look at the stats of some of the Seahawks best running backs not named Shaun Alexander. We’ll start with rushing yards. Add the yardage of Carson, Penny, and Ricky Watters. Watters ranks seventh all-time among Hawks backs. That total is 9,429 yards. Add the touchdowns of Warner and Warren, and you’ll get 99 scores. That would be one heck of a running back, right? Well, that is exactly the career rushing yards for Alexander. The touchdowns are one shy of number 37’s 100 career TDs.
To clarify, I’m just counting stats as a member of the Seahawks. I frankly don’t care what Watters did before he arrived in Seattle. Sure, if I add the Hawks number two and three career leaders in rushing touchdowns – Lynch and Warner – they crossed the goal line 113 times, Lynch in his own inimitable style. But it took them 176 games to do it. Alexander scored his hundred in 119 games. Oh, did I mention that he also caught 214 passes for 1,511 yards and a dozen more TDs?
As for the Hall of Fame argument, Alexander has a stronger case than some might think at first glance. Now, I’m not a proponent of the “if this guy is in, then my guy should be too” argument. Not normally. But in this case, the oversight is pretty outlandish.
It’s true, Alexander’s career rushing totals don’t put him in the top rank of the league’s greatest of all time. His 9,453 yards – yes, for this I’ll include his final season in Washington – rank him just 36th all-time. As a point of reference, there are just 25 backs in the Hall.
But let’s look at some of the guys that are in, while Alexander is waiting on the outside. All of these players have fewer career yards than our Seahawks legend: Earl Campbell, Jim Taylor, Larry Csonka, Terrell Davis, Leroy Kelly, Floyd Little, and Gale Sayers. Sayers gets a pass as he obviously contributed so much in the return game. But the rest of them don’t match up to Alexander.
Seahawks Ring of Honor should lead to HOF for Shaun Alexander
Now we get to the meat of the argument. As so many love to say, scoreboard. And very few players in NFL history lit the scoreboard up more than Shaun Alexander. His 100 touchdowns rank eighth all-time among running backs. Every player ahead of him, with the exception of the not-yet-eligible Adrian Peterson, is in the HOF.
No less than sixteen players that rank behind him are in. That includes not just all the players listed above – yes, they all trail Alexander in scoring, too – but NFL superstars like Barry Sanders, Jerome Bettis, Eric Dickerson, and Tony Dorsett. Seems that a guy who was better at the premium skill – that is, scoring – should be in along with those guys, doesn’t it?
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention his incredible 2005 season. Yes, 12s, the Seahawks do have a player that won the league MVP once upon a time. Check out this terrific breakdown by Michael Bumpus and Mike Holmgren of Alexander’s 1,958-yard, 28-touchdown season. Coach Holmgren is looking pretty good!
As the great Bob Condotta summed up in his typically great piece for The Seattle Times, Alexander played a huge role in changing the culture of the Seahawks from perennial also-rans into winners. True, they didn’t capture the ultimate prize in his time, but with him in the backfield, they tripled the number of division titles.
When Alexander arrived the Hawks had two division titles in 24 seasons. He left the team just eight years later with four more titles and a conference championship. As quoted by Condotta, Alexander is humbled by the Seahawks honor, but hungry for more:
"“To be celebrated with all the other guys (in the Ring of Honor), it’s humbling and it’s exciting and it brings back all the great memories of the guys I got to play with,” Alexander said.“To be celebrated with all the other guys (in the Ring of Honor), it’s humbling and it’s exciting and it brings back all the great memories of the guys I got to play with,” Alexander said. “I just busted my tail and we score 100 touchdowns and then for it not to be perceived as Hall of Fame-worthy has always been hard,” Alexander said. “But I hope that this gives me a shot at it.”"
Unfortunately, the 12s don’t have a vote when it comes to the Hall of Fame. I suppose in the end that’s fair; yes, the game is for the fans, but we really don’t need 3,00 players in the HOF, do we? No, no, we don’t. But we do need one player in particular in the Hall: if any player is qualified for that honor, it’s Shaun Alexander.