Friday, January 6, 2006

Alexander registers a Seahawks first: MVP
NFL rewards record season

By DANNY O'NEIL
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

KIRKLAND -- Trophy or plaque?

Shaun Alexander wasn't sure what he gets for being named the NFL Most Valuable Player.

		PHOTO GALLERY
	View a gallery of photos from Shaun Alexander's record-setting season.

"I have no idea," Alexander said. "A high five?"

A round of applause, too.

Incentives? None in his one-year contract with the Seahawks. Maybe from Nike or another company that he endorses.

Significance? Alexander has that pretty well sorted out.

"All the guys say it just like I want them to say it," Alexander said. " 'We won the MVP.' And we have."

For the record, it is a trophy.

Just one more award in a season when Alexander has couched individual accomplishments in collective terms and glossed over any uncertainty about future free agency.

"We've done stuff that Seattle has never seen before, and we're not done," Alexander said. "We're excited about the rushing title. We're excited about the scoring title. We're excited about the MVP. But the thing that we're most excited about is not playing in the first round this week and being able to win two games and go to Detroit."

Alexander received 19 of the 50 votes in The Associated Press balloting. Two-time winner Peyton Manning of Indianapolis was second with 13 votes and New England's Tom Brady was third with 10.

Alexander is the first Seahawk to win the MVP, and Seattle's fourth professional athlete to be named a league MVP. The Mariners' Ken Griffey Jr. won one in 1997, Ichiro Suzuki won in 2001 and the Storm's Lauren Jackson won in 2003.

It was hard to envision this kind of season for Alexander over the summer after he was designated the Seahawks' franchise player, which is a one-year arrangement, while quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and offensive tackle Walter Jones got multi-year contracts and $16 million signing bonuses.

Then there was the whole end of last season when Alexander said he felt "stabbed in the back" after finishing 1 yard short of the NFL rushing title.

He is more than a year removed from any sourness, and he has run 1,880 yards away from characterizations that he would enter the 2005 season unhappy about his contract.

"Everyone had a perception of how he would handle the situation," Hasselbeck said of Alexander. "It's not what happened. I think the organization did a phenomenal job of finding a way for him to come in on time. He did a great job of saying, 'Hey, I'm going to be a team player, and I'm going to help this team from Day One.' "

Actually, Day One of the regular season wasn't the breakthrough. He gained 73 yards and didn't score in Seattle's loss at Jacksonville. It was one of only two games in which Alexander didn't score a touchdown.

He finished with 28 touchdowns, breaking Priest Holmes' NFL season record, and ran for more than 100 yards in 11 of Seattle's 16 games.

He is making $6.2 million this season, but his contract contains the provision that he cannot be tagged as a franchise or transitional player this offseason. That means Alexander will re-sign with the Seahawks or become an unrestricted free agent.

The decision isn't too far off, but Alexander's eyes aren't wandering yet.

"The actual award, even though it's a great honor and I'm excited, we're going to try and get me or Matt the award next year, if I'm here," Alexander said.

"You want to put yourself as an MVP-type person. You want an MVP-type quarterback, an MVP-type running back, MVP-type wide receivers.

"That's how you get to the Super Bowl and that's how you win 13 games."

It's how Alexander reached the top of the balloting and became, for a season, the league's most valuable player. Does he have a place for the award?

"It's one of those things you always strive for," Alexander said. "But what do you get when you get it? I guess you just worry about it afterward."

ONE-MAN TEAM

The Seahawks led the NFL with 57 touchdowns and Shaun Alexander had 28, which would have tied Detroit and Chicago for 22nd in the league, surpassing eight other teams:

	Rsh	Rec	Ret	Tot
Shaun Alexander	27	1	0	28
Houston	9	15	2	26
Buffalo	6	18	2	26
Arizona	2	21	3	26
Baltimore	5	17	3	25
N.Y. Jets	10	11	4	25
New Orleans	8	15	0	23
San Francisco	9	8	6	23
Cleveland	4	15	3	22

MVP VOTING

Selected by The Associated Press in balloting by a nationwide media panel:

Shaun Alexander, Seahawks	19
Peyton Manning, Colts	13
Tom Brady, Patriots	10
Tiki Barber, Giants	6
Carson Palmer, Bengals	2

SEATTLE STARS

Shaun Alexander is the fourth Seattle athlete in a major professional sport to be named most valuable player. The others:

MVP	Year
Ken Griffey Jr., Mariners	1997
Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners	2001
Lauren Jackson, Storm	2003

Seahawks Kenny Easley (1984) and Cortez Kennedy (1992) were AP NFL defensive players of the year. Mariners Alvin Davis (1984), Kazuhiro Sasaki (2000) and Ichiro (2001) were American League rookies of the year.

TOUCHDOWN MACHINES

Shaun Alexander has now scored 100 touchdowns in just 96 career games. Only two other players have reached 100 TDs faster. Fewest games needed to score 100 touchdowns:

Player	Team	Span	Games
Jim Brown	Cleveland Browns	1957-64	93
Emmitt Smith	Dallas Cowboys	1990-95	93
Shaun Alexander	Seattle Seahawks	2000-05	96
Jerry Rice	San Francisco 49ers	1985-92	99
Don Hutson	Green Bay Packers	1935-45	101
Lenny Moore	Baltimore Colts	1956-65	106
Marshall Faulk	Indianapolis Colts/St. Louis Rams	1994-01	116
Barry Sanders	Detroit Lions	1989-97	134
Terrell Owens	San Francisco 49ers/Phil. Eagles	1996-05	138

Shaun Alexander, named the National Football League's Valuable Player on Thursday after scoring a league-record 28 touchdowns this past season. Alexander has now scored 100 touchdowns in just 96 career games, making him the third-fastest player to reach 100 TDs. Fewest games needed to score 100 touchdowns:

Player	Span	Games
Jim Brown	1957-64	93
Emmitt Smith	1990-95	93
Shaun Alexander	2000-05	96
Jerry Rice	1985-92	99
Don Hutson	1925-45	101
Lenny Moore	1958-65	106
Marshall Faulk	1994-01	116
Barry Sanders	1989-97	134
Terrell Owens	1996-05	138
Marvin Harrison	1996-05	143

Alexander scored 168 points during the regular season, the second-highest total in NFL history. Most points in a single season:

ear	Player	Team	Pts.	Skinny
1960	Paul Hornung	Packers	176	15 TDs, 15 FGs, 41 PATs
2005	Shaun Alexander	Seahawks	168	28 TDs (27 rush, 1 receive)
1998	Gary Anderson	Vikings	164	35 FGs, 59 PATs
2003	Jeff Wilkins	Rams	163	39 FGs, 62 PATs