Interesting point, Jeff - the problem with this season is that there's no dominant player, a la LT or Ray Lewis or Deion Sanders, from another position this year. Steve Smith was pretty good, but I don't think the argument is that compelling for him. Antonio Gates was playing like an MVP for a few weeks, too, but then again so was Tomlinson on his team - which didn't make the playoffs anyway. Brian Urlacher had a good year, but as I think it was Salfino and Pianow in the Breakfast Table argued, that defense is a lot more than Urlacher. Big Ben Roethlisberger, by the way, quietly had another very good year, and talk about a team that wouldn't sniff the playoffs without its key player...

Herbie, while you make some fair points, must you make both the point that Alexander scored 28 touchdowns AND that he led the league in scoring with 168 points. Isn't that just a bit of sophistry for the mathematically challenged? And no matter how you slice up the yardage - into 100 yard games, 200 yard games, early in the year, late in the year, it is what it is. Slicing, dicing and repeating the numbers isn't really an argument. And who cares what teams were ranked high and low in yards allowed against the run - did you know that the Packers, Jets and Saints were the top three teams in yardage against vs. the pass this year? Does that mean anything?

Yards per carry against is probably more important, and even then, it doesn't matter that much. The bottom line is that the Seahawks played bad teams all year, had possessions in the red zone against defenses that weren't good, ran the ball a lot in the red zone, and Alexander is a powerful runner behind a great offensive line. He's not anywhere close to the MVP, however. Not in yards from scrimmage, not in yards per carry and not in importance to his team. Put Thomas Jones, Rudi Johnson or Steven Jackson on the Seahawks, and they win 12 games minimum against that cake schedule. Put those guys on the Giants, and they don't make the playoffs.