of 27 rushing touchdowns in a season. Alexander also won his first NFL rushing title with 1,880 rushing yards, while leading the NFC for the second consecutive year. In 2005, he joined Emmitt Smith, Priest Holmes, and Marshall Faulk as the only running backs to record consecutive seasons of 20 or more touchdowns. Combined with quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, Alexander aided the Seahawks in producing the league's top ranked offense, and the team scoring title. Four days later, on January 5, he was awarded the 2005 NFL MVP Award, becoming the first Seahawk to win the MVP award. He beat out New York Giants running back Tiki Barber and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning who had won the award the previous two years. Alexander garnered 19 out of a possible 50 votes. A day after receiving the MVP award, Alexander was named Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year. He received 34 votes of a panel of 50 NFL sportswriters and broadcasters. He was also named the FedEx Ground NFL Player of the Year. At the ESPY Awards Alexander received two awards, Best Record Breaking Performance and Best NFL Player. In the Divisional playoff game against the Washington Redskins Alexander suffered a concussion early on and had to watch the Seahawks win. However, in the NFC Championship Game against the Carolina Panthers he had 34 carries for 132 yards and two touchdowns, which was easily the best playoff performance of his career. The Seahawks lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL on February 5, 2006. Alexander was, however, the leading rusher of the game with 95 yards. At the end of the season, he was selected to be the cover athlete of Madden NFL 2007. Alexander was the first player to be featured on both the covers of Madden NFL and NCAA Football (the latter on 2001). He was also the only one with this accomplishment up until Larry Fitzgerald was selected to appear on Madden NFL 10, though Fitzgerald was sharing a cover with the Steelers' Troy Polamalu. Alexander's MVP season was celebrated musically by Dustin Blatnik and the 12th Man Band in the song "Sweet Shaun Alexander", a parody of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama". "Sweet Shaun" was widely aired in the Seattle area in the weeks leading up to Super Bowl XL, plus national play on ESPN Radio and other outlets. The song was decried in