KIRKLAND — Mike Holmgren told someone to stop the tape.
The image on the screen was all too familiar, and yet the Seattle Seahawks’ head coach still wanted to make a point while watching one of Shaun Alexander’s unsuccessful carries from Sunday’s loss to the Carolina Panthers.
“I looked at the film,” Holmgren said Wednesday afternoon, “and I told the coaches, ‘Let’s stop it right here. Where’s (the play) going? What does he have? Someone tell me what he has.’ There was nothing.”
While Alexander has been putting up the worst statistics of his career, and looking like the poster boy for running backs who decline after the age of 30, the Seahawks aren’t giving up on him yet.
During his Wednesday press conference, Holmgren continued to defend Alexander’s play. The coach said that wrist and knee injuries slowed Alexander down this season. And, as the tape of the Carolina game reminded Holmgren, Alexander just hasn’t had much running room at all.
“I think, physically, he can still do it,” Holmgren said on Wednesday. “I think that wrist, it bothered him more than he ever thought it might — or I ever thought it might. And then we got kind of a little bit of a loss of confidence. I’m not talking about him losing confidence; I’m talking about me losing confidence in calling certain things.
“But it’s not just him.”
At times this season, like after gaining just 17 yards in Sunday’s loss to Carolina, Alexander has sounded perplexed by his lack of success. The eternal optimist has all but thrown up his hands when describing the team’s running game, relying on the oft-used line: “It is what it is.”
On Wednesday, Alexander was asked whether he still has the skills that once led to an MVP season. He tackled the question head-on.
“Of course, I still have it,” he said. “I think football is a physical sport, so breaking the foot last year, and breaking the (wrist) this year, they’ve just caused changes in the game for me.
“At the same time, there are some things that I can do for the next couple years to help us stay where we are. And that’s owning the (NFC West) and always being a team that’s going to be tough to beat in the playoffs — if not the Super Bowl.”
The statistics don’t bode well for Alexander’s future in Seattle — and those numbers go beyond the 612 rushing yards and 3.3 yards-per-carry average that are well below his typical marks. Alexander’s base salary will bump up from $1.4 million this season to $4.475 million in 2008, according to numbers on the NFL Player Association’s Web site. The salary will continue to climb by more than $1 million per season over each of the following five years, so it’s almost guaranteed he will either be cut or have his contract restructured in the near future.
Alexander’s lack of production on the field raises even more questions about whether he’ll be playing his final few games in a Seattle uniform over the next month.
But Holmgren is among those who maintain that Alexander is still in the team’s future plans.
“Absolutely,” Holmgren said. “He signed a long-term contract here. That wrist will be fixed; we’ll fix that in the offseason.”
Running backs coach Stump Mitchell also defended Alexander’s struggles.
“(Age) has nothing to do with it,” Mitchell said Wednesday when presented with the fact that Alexander turned 30 in August. “Mo (backup Maurice Morris) is under 30, and he’s having a tough time too.
“Right now, we’re just having a tough time running the ball. That’s the bottom line. It’s got very little to do with Shaun; it’s the entire offense.”
Rather than focus on the long-term future, the Seahawks are only concerned with what Alexander can do over the next month.
“Right now, as (an offense), we’re turning things around and getting better,” Mitchell said. “It’s happening for those guys. It’s just not happening for (Alexander).
“But it can happen. We just have to stay after it. I’m confident it will happen.”
If it does, Alexander’s future may not be as clouded. The Seahawks would love to see glimpses of the 2005 version of Alexander, especially while watching game tape.
Because the tape doesn’t lie.
“He’s going to help us win games down the stretch,” Holmgren said. “I know that. I believe that.”
The question now is whether that will be enough to keep Alexander in Seattle. If not, he could be playing his final regular-season home game at Qwest Field this Sunday.
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