non-Coug stuff on Shaun Alexander

I read this on NFL.com – makes you realize that they really, REALLY need to re-sign him.

With his three scores on Sunday, Alexander became the first player — not just running back, but player — in the history of the sport to score 15 touchdowns in a season for five straight seasons. Think about that — that includes people like Jerry Rice, Jim Brown, Cris Carter, Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, Paul Hornung, Emmitt Smith. In just five-plus NFL seasons, Alexander currently ranks 15th on the all-time touchdown list. Think about that.

Obviously the o-line has a huge part to play when a running back is so great. You look back at Emmitt, he had a GREAT o-line blowing up defenses for many years. Emmitt wasn’t the biggest or the fastest, but he got in the end zone and got his yards. Payton was an exception, maybe the most unreal overall back ever, considering he was the whole frickin’ team for several years in Chicago! But, to think that Shaun has already scored TD’s the last 5 years like no other player – ever – in the NFL has done?? In this era of free agency and parity, where players come and go, roaming the earth as nomad’s looking for every last dollar? That’s just amazing. I guess the question is going to be what is he worth? What do they pay him? Reports here and there have said that his agent and the team have traded numbers, and that Alexander himself has been telling anyone who will listen the last 3 weeks that the way it’s going, he fully expects to be back here. It’s an interesting question.

What’s weird though is that both Alexander and Edgerrin James were on the market last year, yet nobody wanted them. It must be a deal where many NFL head coaches and GM’s believe that a running back is interchangable, and that maybe, just maybe, any back could be doing what Shaun is doing now. That said, the left side of the line, with Big Walt and Hutch, is the best in the NFL. Jones is THE BEST tackle in the NFL, end of discussion, and he’s destined for the yellow blazer and bronze bust in Canton. But, it has to be said, Shaun has become one of the best backs in the NFL and is putting up numbers that will place him among the best of the modern era!