Friday, August 04, 2006

Alan's Drive of the Year



A few weeks ago, the brains behind this amazing blog had an idea. I believe I'm the first to do this, so I'll explain the whole deal.

During the season, the contributors here give out weekly awards to players to congratulate them on a job well done. There was a lot of good times this past year, and its a lot of fun reading the awards. Especially after a win. I literally check this site ten times a day on Mondays during the season.

My award is a bit different. I give out the award of Drive of the Game. It is what it sounds like. Its the offensive drive I deem the most important. Its game changing, its an important score, it was just fun to watch.

The trophy to the left is called the Extremely Corny Bronze Racecar, which was the consensus name given to the trophy.

So, a week ago, I got an e-mail from the admins of the site that says there are some new guys to the site, so maybe we could run some contributor awards. And since its been awhile since ECBR has graced this fine page, I'll oblige.

Here we go...The 2006 Seahawks Drive of the Year.

The essentials:
First scoring drive against Green Bay
10 plays, 69 yards, 5:05
Result: Shaun Alexander, 1 yard touchdown. 7-6 SEAHAWKS.

Why its the DOY:
This was THE touchdown, which is featured on not one, but two, of the rotating mastheads here at the Street. Its the record setting score for Shaun, and the one that gave him the NFL MVP and probably the reason why he graced the cover of Madden 07.

Granted, there were more important drives this season. Perhaps the late drive to tie the Cowboys at 10 before Josh Brown came up huge. Maybe you'd prefer one of the scores in the playoffs. I could even hear a great debate from the game winning scores from our road games at Tennessee and San Francisco.

But, an NFL record is simply to good to pass up. We don't get these very often here in Seattle.

We all know about Shaun's incredible season, and we're hoping he has another one. I don't want to get all poetic on you guys for what he did, but simply give him one more ECBR for his efforts in 2006.

Besides, he's held so many DOGs (Drive of the Games) during the season, he almost had to win the DOY.

There is a sub-blog for the DOG. You can find it at...

http://12seahawksstreet-dog.blogspot.com

For those of you that are new, welcome to the Street.



Click the player to watch the DOY.

(to comment, click the green number to the right of the title above)

5 comments:

  1. Great pick. I couldn't agree more.

    I've actually watched that drive several times - I've got a 5GB mpg of the game - and the effort put forth by the lineman and Shaun was extraordinary. Green Bay knew he was going to get the ball, and they stacked the line like it was d-day. Seattle pounded the ball, play after play. It was a true battle of wills, and it reminded me of some games under Chuck Knox, old fashioned smashmouth football.

    Damn, I loved that drive.

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  2. I'll admit, when I first read which drive you selected for this award I was like "WHAT?"

    But after watching the clip, it made more sense. Not only did it feature a heavy dose of SA, but it highlighted a lot of key and upcoming players.

    Right from the get-go, a nice pass and catch with Mack gaining big yardage. Then a spotlight on Pork Chop blocking (with WJ getting the day off), and a nice catch down the sidelines by DJ Hackett.

    The other key to this drive was a number of negative or very short gainer runs, but the "never say die" attitude of the coach, offensive line, and of course, the MVP running back to just keep stuffing the ball down Green Bay's throats.

    And of course, the capper, Shaun trotting into the end zone, untouched, over the left side of the best offensive line in football, even with our best Olineman on the bench.

    CLASSIC!

    P.S. if you're checking the blog several times a day for new posts, then you must not be signed up for 12SS Email Alerts! Click the link and then click SEND to sign up today!!!

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  3. It really is a testament to what kind of coach Holmgren is (even though the game was meaningless, he wanted to get Shaun that record almost as badly as Shaun wanted it), what kind of player Shaun is (the entire world knew he was getting the ball the majority of that drive, and he still got it in) and what kind of team the Hawks are/were (there was no way they weren't getting him into the endzone). Very fitting that one of the key blocks on the last play of the game was thrown by a man who, when asked what his job was, once said "I block for 1,000 yard rushers".

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  4. Alan, I hope you didn't mind me taking the liberty to add the video clip. I'll try to do the same on your future awards if you're game.

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  5. That's perfectly fine. I enjoyed watching the entire drive again.

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