Alexander finishes strong

Published 11:17 pm Sunday, September 23, 2007

SEATTLE — Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander has been saving his best for last during the first three games of the 2007 season.

He’s averaged 5.1 yards per carry in fourth quarters of games, as compared to 3.8 yards per carry through the first three. His longest runs of the first two games came in the final period, whereas his game-best 22-yarder in Sunday’s win over Cincinnati came on the second-to-last play of the third quarter.

Make no mistake about it: Alexander gets better as the game goes on.

“My whole career has been like that,” Alexander said after gaining 44 of his 100 rushing yards in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 24-21 win. “The more carries, it seems like our (offensive) line just gets into a groove, and we just start jelling well. I don’t know if I quite get better; I think that things just start to work out better for us.”

On Sunday, the final 16 minutes saved an otherwise forgettable game. After struggling for 37 yards on his first 13 carries, Alexander had 63 on his final eight attempts.

He was particularly bad for most of the first half, going into halftime with just 22 yards on nine carries. The Qwest Field fans grew so impatient that some of them began to boo nearly every time he touched the ball.

“I think they were reading my mind,” Alexander said. “You all (in the media) know how high I set my goals. No one will ever be more frustrated than I will be when it comes to our running game. That’s just kind of how it is.”

In the end, Alexander found a way to hit the 100-yard milestone for the 37th time in his NFL career.

This time, he needed a good finish to get there.

“He’s a sandbagger,” quarterback Matt Hasselbeck joked after Sunday’s win.

No dancing this week: Bengals receiver Chad Johnson promised to have a special celebration for his first touchdown at Qwest Field, and yet that didn’t happen Sunday.

Still, he wasn’t silenced when it came to the post-game interview session.

“We could beat (the Seahawks) on anything we wanted to beat them on,” said Johnson, who had 138 yards off nine receptions but had his first touchdown-less game of the 2007 season. “They didn’t stop us all day in the passing game.”

Cincinnati quarterback Carson Palmer did pile up 342 passing yards, led by T.J. Houshmandzadeh’s 141 yards on 12 receptions. Johnson also had his share of catches.

But the Seahawks gave up only one passing touchdown all day. That came on a play where Houshmandzadeh and Johnson ran a crossing route, causing Seahawks cornerback Marcus Trufant to get caught up in the mass of bodies.

“I got picked (by Johnson) on the one play, but it was my fault,” Trufant said. “I kind of got locked in on Chad a little bit — he’s the man — and I let the ball get over my head.”

Seattle’s strategy for containing Johnson was to have Trufant line up across from him on almost every snap. Trufant usually stays on the left side of the defense, but on Sunday he was flopping to match up with Johnson.

“Even though I’m the guy following him around, I had help all around me,” said Trufant, who hasn’t flipped sides like that since the Seahawks faced Arizona Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald in Week 13 of the 2006 season.

On Sunday, the Seahawks used safeties Brian Russell and Deon Grant to help out on Johnson, but apparently at least one reporter didn’t notice.

“Man, what game were you watching?” Johnson said when asked about being contained with the man-to-man coverage. “I didn’t see any man-to-man. Are you serious? They played Man twice — two times.”

Actually, the Seahawks left Trufant in single coverage on at least a dozen snaps.

Butterfingers: The Seahawks dropped six passes Sunday, and that was just on offense.

The most important drop could have been when linebacker Julian Peterson failed to corral a ball that bounced up in the air in the Seattle end zone. Palmer’s pass bounced off Russell’s legs and floated above Peterson for at least two seconds before rolling off the linebacker’s hands and onto the turf.

“It felt like it was hanging up there for an eternity,” Peterson said. “…I was disgusted about the play because that would’ve taken points off the board.”

As a self-imposed punishment, Peterson said he did 40 pushups on the sideline.

Offensive lineman Ray Willis also mishandled a ball when he muffed a short kickoff in the first quarter.

On offense, the Seahawks had two drops from Alexander, two from Nate Burleson, and one each from Bobby Engram and Marcus Pollard.

“Hopefully, we’ve had enough for the year,” Pollard said. “I had one, and another last week, and hopefully we can get that ironed out.”

Battle for position: The Sea-hawks took advantage of field position on two key drives.

Rookie Josh Wilson took the opening kickoff 72 yards to set up an Engram touchdown in the first quarter.

“I really didn’t have to do much,” Wilson said. “The blocking set the hole up, so I just did what I was supposed to: run the ball toward the opening.”

Cincinnati’s final kickoff also put the Seahawks in good position, although it had nothing to do with Wilson. Shayne Graham’s kickoff bounced out of bounds at the Seattle 15-yard line, drawing a penalty that gave the Seahawks the ball at their own 40. That helped set up the game-winning drive.

“We have to be able to execute in the kicking game,” Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said.

Seahawk killer: For a running back who has just two 100-yard games and three career rushing touchdowns, Cincinnati’s Kenny Watson had made his mark on the Seahawks.

His fourth-quarter touchdown Sunday gave the Bengals a 21-17 lead with 2:42 remaining. Watson, who replaced injured Rudi Johnson in the second half, also had a big game against Seattle in 2002. Then with the Washington Redskins, Watson had a career-high 110 rushing yards in a win over the Seahawks.

Bring the noise: The Qwest Field crowd didn’t just boo Alexander. The fans also helped force three false-start penalties on the Cincinnati offense.

Afterward, Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer called it “probably the loudest place I have ever played.”

Quick slants: The last time the Seahawks won a regular-season game without an Alexander touchdown was Week 12 of the 2006 season, when the running back had 201 rushing yards but did not get into the end zone in a 34-24 win over Green Bay. Seattle is now 7-15 since 2001 when Alexander plays but does not score a touchdown. … Houshmandzsadeh’s 12 receptions matched a career high … According to ESPN.com, Seahawks defensive coordinator John Marshall learned during the game his mother died.