I would answer it was not the absence of Bush, BUT the absence of a Bush like run threat....

That being said, I don't think anyone prepared for Ivory. I dont think even Ivory was prepared for his 157 yards much less anyone's Defense. LOL

My synopsis. It was actually the absence of Bush (and maybe Thomas) that helped us against Tampa. They figured that they only had to prepare to stop Brees, Tampa fans were commenting that we have no run game, never factored in a freight train.

Now is where the beauty of all this comes in. Cleveland is FORCED to prepare for Ivory........ Opening up Brees through the air. Only a few Defenses can effectively stop both.

Sean Payton would most likely start PT and give Ivory the clean up yardage. If we could put all of theses guys on the field in the same game it would get ugly for the D coordinator. My guess is that Betts is the odd man out if we carry four backs when everyone gets healthy.

Wow! This is a tough call, especially after Ivory played so well in his last game, but as PT is tried and tested and has always done a good job for the Saints then I guess I would go for PT. I do like Ivory as well though and I think he will become a great player for our team.

GEAUX SAINTS!

After one good game against a team we were up big on I dont think Ivory is moving up the depth chart from 4th to 1st.

I'm a big PT fan but I wanted to look at the numbers to see just how great Ivory has played in his one game.

PT our #1 rb has averaged 4.9 yards since 07. Of course that is over 374 attempts not a good comparision to Ivory's 44 attempts. No defensive coordinator would be scared about the leading rusher on the number one offense in the league the last couple years.

One number is similiar between the 2 rbs. PT has 374 attempts and has 3 fumbles. Ivory has 44 attempts and has 3 fumbles. I guess they are interchangeable.

I like Ivory but after one game I dont think he is goin to replace our other undrafted rb that has fought his way up the depthchart. PT is a tough runner and after lookin at that hit he took I was hopin he wouldnt be out all year.

I agree with this. Reggie being hurt is surely nothing new. We performed our offense performed fine without him the last 4 years when he went down so I dont think that all of a sudden this year we simply forgot how to play without him. IN fact there was a point that we were winning more games with him injured than when he was in the line up. NOt that that means anything really. There were multiple reasons for our offense spuddering, and if you think back the offensive woes were going on way back in training camp.

We have three world class running backs. Reggie, Pierre. Chris. Each has merited playing time and each will get playing time. And each will get hurt from time to time. We have a great situation going. GEAUX SAINTS!!!!

There are enough carries to go around, especially if we're running out the clock.

PT is brilliant. But I say go with the guy in form, CI. And use PT later in the game to really mess up defences.

Until Ivory can prove he doesn't fumble, and prove he has pass protections and route running mastered, and prove he can stay healthy, I gotta go with PT.

Ivory has potential that's off the charts, but Pierre Thomas is light years ahead of him right now.

I think PT would have burned TB had he played last week. Their run D is awful. I don't mean to take anything away from Ivory, he was awesome.

But PT is the epitome of professionalism. He gets the max out of every play and does everything well. He also runs the screen as well as anybody I've EVER seen. To answer the question I say use Ivory the way we used Bell last year. He's a better back than Bell will ever be.