KIRKLAND – The finish couldn’t have represented the whole any less.
After carrying the ball 369 times without losing a fumble, Shaun Alexander lost his grip on his final attempt of the regular season.
It was a meaningless carry – he’d already won the NFL rushing title five plays earlier – in a meaningless game – his Seattle Seahawks had already clinched the No. 1 seed in the NFC – and so everyone chuckled, patted him on the back and started looking toward the postseason.
Except that wasn’t the end of it.
After losing control of the ball twice in Saturday’s playoff opener, including one that was ruled a fumble and was recovered by the Washington Redskins, Alexander is having to answer understandable questions about his ability to handle the football.
Jennifer Buchanan/The Herald
“Uncharacteristic,” Alexander said Monday when asked about his recent fumbles. “Those things are easily fixable.”
Before his final carry of the regular season, Alexander had fumbled just three times all year. All of those had been forgotten because Seattle maintained possession each time. But he already has two fumbles in his past 10 carries, spanning from the final carry of the Week 17 Green Bay game through his brief appearance in Saturday’s playoff game.
His fumble against the Packers came at the end of a 12-yard run, when he got hit by Green Bay defenders Marviel Underwood and Al Harris from behind. Underwood recovered the ball at the Packers’ 6-yard line with 16 seconds remaining in the first half.
Alexander said this week that he “was trying to do too much. Being close to the end zone, I was trying to pick up more yards and was careless with the football.”
Against Washington, Alexander got off to a forgettable start on the opening drive. He took a handoff inside the Washington 15-yard line on his second carry of the game and started to the left, as the play was designed, before cutting back right. As he changed directions, Alexander lost control of the football even though he was not touched by a single defender.
Alexander said Monday that he wasn’t feeling right before and during the game, due to a combination of cold medicine he took before the game and the extra emotions he was feeling as the Seahawks prepared to open their 2005 postseason.
“It was just one of those games,” he said. “I’ve always got to say to myself: take control of yourself. You get all the emotions of the game running out of control for me, which is really bad.
” (On the fumble, ) I think I put my knee against my own arm.”
That fumble was recovered by Washington’s Lemar Marshall at the Redskins’ 11-yard line, stalling Seattle’s opening drive of the game.
Coach Mike Holmgren said that Alexander would have easily scored a touchdown if he had continued to the left side, as the play was designed.
“When he sees the film, he’s going to kick himself,” Holmgren said, although replays showed that Washington linebacker Marcus Washington may have forced Alexander to change directions. “If (Alexander) just stayed with the play, he would have walked in (to the end zone). It would have been a really fine football play and a good way to start the game.”
While Alexander did not use the wet conditions as an excuse, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said that the slickness of the ball was definitely a factor in that fumble.
“When Shaun coughed that first one up, when I got the snap, I said to myself, ‘The ball is wet,’” Hasselbeck said Monday. “That’s a real (factor). You just have to do the best you can and know that both teams are playing on a level playing field.”
Alexander said that he never felt like himself, even before the concussion, because of medication he took before the game to fend off cold-like symptoms.
“It went from bad to worse,” he said Monday. “I took hits, and I fumbled the ball twice.”
Alexander’s second fumble came on a play in which he suffered a concussion. While he lost possession of the ball as he got knocked out, Alexander was not charged with a fumble because game officials ruled that his forward progress had been stopped.
Holmgren isn’t too worried about Alexander’s fumbles becoming a problem. While there has still been no public announcement regarding medical clearance, Alexander is expected to play Sunday against the Carolina Panthers.
And Holmgren doesn’t expect him to cough up the ball.
“I’m not worried about it,” Seattle’s head coach said.
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