It seems somewhat nuts to even broach this question - has Shaun Alexander, the former NFL MVP, actually sucked his entire career and we just didn't know it?

But I'm not actually even the one who brought this up. No, it was a die-hard Seahawks fan in a Bill Simmons October 12, 2007 column who brought it up. Let's take a look back at what the fan said.

"As a longtime, die-hard 'Hawks fan, I'm telling you, the problem is Shaun Alexander. Think about how important RBs have been to 'pure' West Coast offenses -- ideally, they block, catch passes and get gritty yards. Shaun does none of those things, and you can't use the broken hand as an excuse because he's been this way since Day 1. He can't catch, won't block and (watch this one closely next time you watch them play) if he doesn't smell a huge gain, he turns south and sits down. Literally, he tries backing into the defenders and then just takes a squat. It's pitiful. Any real Hawks fan will tell you that Shaun's big year in 2005 was nothing more than the product of Jones, Hutchinson and Strong blocking, as well as Hasselbeck making smart audibles."

This thought on Alexander has been becoming increasingly popular over the past two years - and apparently Seattle has now bought into is well. But is it right?

Alexander has never been an electric runner on any level. When you combine that with the fact that since 2004 the most number of passes he's caught in a season is 23, he's not exactly a dynamic backfield weapon. He's also a horrible blocker, which is something that definitely drops him down a lot in my mind.

When I think of truly elite running backs, I think of guys like Jim Brown, OJ Simpson, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton and Emmitt Smith. Brown, OJ, and Sanders didn't even play behind great offensive lines, but were still dominant rushers - perhaps the truest mark of a great back. Payton could do everything well. And although Smith wasn't the same runner as any of the other 4 guys and did play behind a great line, he was an exceptionally smart player and incredibly durable - two excellent traits to have in a running back.

Alexander is of course not worthy of even being mentioned in the same sentence as any of those guys. But let's look at this logically. The average life span of a running back is three-and-half years of decent production. Alexander managed to go five years in a row rushing for over 1000 yards plus he was MVP one of those years. He probably got the MVP because everyone got wrapped up in Fantasy Football style numbers - and ignored his inability to catch passes or block - but an MVP trophy is still an MVP trophy.

His hideous last two seasons appear to just be the simple fact that age caught up with him. After all, we all remember how quickly Eddie George took a nose dive as his career carries piled up.

Although, one can also make the argument that his line did help him a great deal. The Denver Broncos could seemingly put in my grandmother at running back and get 1000 yards out of her. That may or may not be due to illegal chop blocking, but whatever.

As much as I would have liked to come out and say Shaun Alexander sucked in this post, I can't in good conscience do that. The numbers just don't back it up. He hasn't been everything you'd want in a back, no question. But has he truly sucked? No, he just hit the wall really, really hard.