After coming so tantalizingly close to a Super Bowl in his career, Seattle Seahawks legendary running back Shawn Alexander was likely more than content to live vicariously through his old franchise winning their second championship in franchise history.
Once again, Seattle had a dominant ground game as Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet teamed to carry this roster. While the Seahawks didn't lean on Walker for 30 carries every game until injuries forced them to, Alexander is well aware of the fact that the days of backs like him getting 25 carries every game are a thing of the past.
In an exclusive interview with FanSided on behalf of Stand Together prior to the victory, Alexander said that many running backs today don't have the mentality to be a bell cow due to their experience in split-carry backfields throughout their career. However, Alexander complements those young guys for always finding a way to put their teams in positions to win.
""When you're raised like that, you don't think any differently; that I need to go get my rhythm," Alexander said. "I think it would be hard for guys like me, because we are training like 'hey I'm running these hills because I'm all we got, if I don't go perform we lose'... not that [younger guys] are not training, but what I'm saying...[they believe] 'I'm going because I need to go get myself in position to help us win,' and sometimes knowing that heat is behind you is really good for some people.""
Seahawks legend Shaun Alexander explains lack of bell cow RBs in NFL
The last two Super Bowl winners have shown that both strategies of managing running backs can be effective. Saquon Barkley's 2,000-yard season carried the Philadelphia Eagles, while Walker and Charbonnet both helped Seattle before the latter's injury problems.
However, Alexander is also a cautionary tale that shows the downside of riding one running back too much. Alexander, who ran for 9,453 yards and an even 100 touchdowns in the NFL, averaged just 3.5 yards per carry and amassed 11 touchdowns in three years after his MVP campaign at age 28. By 31, he was done.
Alexander's mindset in the backfield worked perfectly for that era of Seahawks football, however. Old No. 37 is still the greatest running back in franchise history after setting basically every record that matters on the ground, and it might take some time before his records start falling.