TallySaint

RUNNING START
Deuce McAllister will see his first live action since injuring his right knee last season when the Saints play Dallas on Monday night, but he's not getting too excited, because it's just the preseason

Friday, August 18, 2006
By Mike Triplett



JACKSON, MISS. -- If Deuce McAllister is particularly anxious or excited about returning to the football field Monday night, he hides it well.

"Nah, not really. I mean, it's the preseason," said McAllister, who is scheduled to start and play most of the first half against the Dallas Cowboys in Shreveport. "There's no marbles on the table. Make an 85- or a 70-yard run, it doesn't really mean anything, except that you can do it.

"You don't want to go out there and just look horrible, especially it being a Monday night game, even though it's the preseason. But you understand you're in training camp, and you're going through the process of preparing yourself for the regular season."



McAllister has not faced any live full-speed action since he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee Oct. 9. But for him, Monday's game is just another "step" toward Week 1, another "phase" in the recovery process.

McAllister, the Saints' all-time leading rusher at just 27-years old, is not content with any minor milestones or moral victories at this point. He's thinking big.

"Why wait 'til next year?" McAllister said of the popular contention that running backs need two years to fully recover from ACL surgery. "That's my thinking, that's my goal. Why wait 'til next year? A couple years ago, we had a string of nine straight 100-yard (games). Let's see if we can get 10.

"Those are the things, the goals you can build off. You can't limit yourself and say you're coming off a knee injury, so let's wait a year and a half down the road. Let's make it happen now."

McAllister admits that he's not 100 percent yet. It takes him a little longer to get the knee warm before practice and to ice it down afterward. From time to time, he looks a little awkward when he walks.

But he said he has been able to do even more than he expected throughout training camp, not missing a practice since early in the first week. And, "knock on wood," he hasn't run into any true setbacks.

"I know I'm not 100 percent, but I'm close," McAllister said. "You're going to have good days and bad days. As far as structure and strength-wise, that's probably as close as possible as you could want. But there's still some things I'm lacking as far as, I guess you could say just explosiveness in the knee. You see some things you were able to do maybe two or three years ago that I haven't been able to do with the knee.

Story continues....
http://www.nola.com/sports/t-p/index...l=1&thispage=2

My Guardian Angel wears a hard hat.

lumm0x

I don't like the sounds of him rushing back to the field if he's not 100%, and especially the thoughts of him going 20+ game minutes right off the bat. I'd limit him to 1 or 2 carries and that's it Monday. Stecker was banged up a bit last week and after trading Bennett, if we lost Deuce again we are very shallow at the position.

AllSaints

dont even say that !!!!!!!!!

spkb25

it will be a good to gte a look at deuce n bush in the same game. i don't want to see either get hurt

xan

Deuce will get hit once or twice and come out of the game. Bush needs a few reps in pattern for the passing game, so he'll be in a few plays more. I wanna see Branch. That guy's gonna come up huge this season.