Great expectations

CHENEY — The spring in his step is a little more noticeable, and evident not only on a football field.

Shaun Alexander is about to become a father. He and his wife, Valerie, are expecting the arrival of daughter Heaven on Sept. 15.

"And we have a game on the 14th at Arizona," Alexander said.

The Seahawks travel to Tempe for the regular season's first road game that weekend, and Alexander can hardly be blamed for thinking ahead to what is sure to be a busy weekend if his wife delivers on time.

But Alexander isn't just walking taller as a soon-to-be father. He is running faster, thanks to the pounds he shed in the offseason and the weight, conditioning and speed work he completed with trainer Joe Gentry. Combine that with the physical skills and nose for the end zone he already possesses, and the three-year veteran is once again setting high standards for himself and his teammates on offense.

"I think if everybody else starts scoring, we're going to really be hot, because I'm going to keep on going," Alexander said. "If we're healthy when we get to the playoffs — and we're going to the playoffs this year — we're going to scare a lot of teams."

Alexander is never lacking confidence. But he did struggle at times last season. It took four weeks for Alexander to get his first 100-yard game of the season.

But when it happened, Alexander — as he has been known to do — made quite a statement. At home against Minnesota last September, he rushed for 139 yards and scored five touchdowns, a Seahawks single-game record.

After that game, nagging injuries took their toll on the Seahawks running back, and the list was lengthy.

"I had so many injuries it was crazy," Alexander said. "I went from a sprained ankle and I was limping one week, then I got jabbed in the eye and I had to have eye surgery. That was like in the second week, and then I had to wear a visor. Then I break a finger and I bruise a forearm and I sprain an ACL. It was just terrible last year. But that's good; I got all my injuries from my career out of the way, and we'll go from there."

The emergence of rookie Maurice Morris had the Seahawks contemplating a move similar to the one the team made when Alexander was a rookie in 2000. That year, Ricky Watters got most of the carries, but Alexander, a first-round draft pick, was used as a short-yardage back and averaged four carries a game.

Last year, the plan was to have Alexander run the ball 18 to 20 times a game, with Morris getting five or six carries. Morris got as many as 15 carries in one game, at Arizona on Nov. 10, but a hamstring injury sidelined him for six of the last seven games. The complementary running back system suffered the same fate as so many other Seahawks roster plans: thwarted by injury.

Alexander played hurt during the middle of the season, still sore from his previous injuries. And then — coinciding with the Seahawks' increased output on offense over the final six weeks — Alexander found his groove again. He ended the season with three 100-yard games in the last six and scored seven touchdowns between Nov. 24 and the season finale on Dec. 29.

"I think what happened is the whole thing fell into place," offensive coordinator Gil Haskell said. "The passing game worked for (quarterback) Matt (Hasselbeck). (Tackle) Chris Terry played well. So all of a sudden, the focus was off him (Alexander) because we were a balanced offense."

Overall, his statistics were down compared to 2001, but Alexander still ran for 1,175 yards and scored an NFC-best 16 rushing touchdowns, a Seahawks season record.

A conversation with Watters inspired Alexander to fight through his pain.

"He was like, 'Do what you do best and don't make it a big deal. Don't play off your injury, just play,' " Alexander said. "Really, that's all I did. All the things that were negative about the game, I just kind of let it go off my back.

"Ricky was like, 'That's going to happen because everyone expects you to be elite, and they don't realize the pain you're in.' So I just kept on playing, and then probably around Week 13, my legs were probably the healthiest, so I could at least run again, even though my upper body was beat up. And that kind of got us going again."

This offseason, Alexander dedicated himself to gaining strength and dropping weight — he wants to play at 220 pounds, nine pounds less than he started last season. He also hired a publicist to not only spread the message of his charity foundation but to increase his exposure in both the local community and the national media.

Seahawks coaches don't question Alexander's talent. At least one, running backs coach Stump Mitchell, still expects Alexander to lead the league in rushing touchdowns and, beyond that, make it to his first Pro Bowl. But the challenge, Mitchell believes, is to get Alexander to push himself harder in practice so that he is as good a runner from his 5-yard line as he is near the opponent's red zone.

"Shaun has all the talent he needs to be a Pro Bowl guy," Mitchell said. "The only thing I have to try to get him to do right now — and that's a big challenge — is to work hard every day.

"If he does that, nobody can touch him. Nobody can touch him."

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com.