SaintFanInATLHELL

My thoughts:

Duece: Stay healthy. 10-12 rushes per game. 4+ YPC. I don't think he needs to be the feature guy anymore. The only problem with Duece is getting him to stay on the field.

Reggie: 10-12 rushes per game. 5+ YPC. Reggie needs to do two things, and neither of them is to be the feature back in the traditional sense. The first is to be productive when rushing the ball. Doesn't have to be a home run every time, just good positive yardage. The second is that Reggie is best as the X factor on the field. Put him all over the place and force the defense to account for him. Swings, flares, wheels, end arounds, off tackle, middle of the line, and everything else.

I think folks miss the fact that Reggie does all of these types of activities well. But since he doesn't tote the rock for 130 a game, it gets dismissed.

As his unofficial PR guy, I'd say that his goal should be a shatter the total yards record. One year of racking up a 170+ total yards per game should be enough to shut the critics down even if it's distributed as 75 rushing and 95 doing the rest.

PT23: Grow him into the position. Give him a minimum of 10 touches per game. See if he can keep that 5+ YPC average that we've seen from him.

Stecker: Utility guy. Spell Reggie. Spell Duece. Special Teams.

Everyone wants to have that guy that we pound into the line 25 times a game. Anyone who has watched Payton and the Saints over the last two years should realize that's never going to be our offense. The RBs need more than anything else need to serve as a counterbalance to Brees delivering the football down the field.

It's more important that our run game be reliable and consistent as opposed to explosive. If our 4 backs collect 200+ YPG total, then they've done their job.

SFIAH

Super Bowl Championships: New Orleans Saints:1, Carolina:0, Atlanta Chokers: STILL ZERO

Only Atlanta choked in an unchokable situation... Life is definitely good.

Lifer

It usually takes two years to recover from the kind of injury Duece sustained. And he had two knee surgeries...at best we should hope he's back by mid-season. I just don't see Deuce being am ajor factor next year. Our feature back this year will be Pierre Thomas. Bush will be Bush - Payton will use him to exploit mismatches on the D for big plays and use him as a decoy to keep the opposition off blance. Saints won't try him as an every down back again. Rhodes would be a good pick up. Stecker will come in to keep everyone fresh and maybe Jamaal Branch will get a chance. He can play. Is he still on the roster?

SmashMouth

A running back .... what the hell is a running back ... do we need one? I thought we had one already .... Charles Grant!

B_Dub_Saint

I do know that we are a passing team now but like SFIAH said, we need to keep em honest. Teams know we mostly pass but lets face it. If its 3rd and 1 I would rather pound the ball rather that losing 5 yards on the swing pass.

TheDeuce

First of all, it only takes about 6 months now to recover from an ACL injury, and a bit longer for microfracture. Deuce will be healthy by camp.

Secondly, I completely agree with SFIAH, that Reggie can be great, but he needs to be used right. The play calling between last year and 2006 was night and day. In 2006, they used traditional play calling with Deuce, and kept teams off guard with Reggie. #25 will be at his best when opposing defenses don't know what's coming. In 2007, I knew what almost every play would be when Reggie was in there at RB (swing pass, screen, draw, or run off the tackle). A healthy Deuce means a more effective Reggie, and an unstoppable offense. Reggie can be this offense's featured weapon, but you have to use him right.

I also want to say I'm not sold on PT. I think he's a pretty good player, but I'm not ready to say he should be our feature running back next year because of one game against Chicago.

BooBirdSaint

Until this Defense can improve greatly (26th) last year we urgently need a strong running game to help with clock management. I think we've proven what happens when your D is crap and can't run the ball and keep the other teams offense off the field (hello 7-9). We desperately need our running back by committee to get it done this year if we hope for any chance at post season play.

iceshack149

"...it's good to have friends, no matter where they are."--JOESAM2002

QBREES9

D. Rhodes
He was released by the Raiders today, should we bring him in for a visit

TheDeuce

I didn't say he won't be a good player, I said I'm not sold on him yet. I think that's a pretty reasonable thing to say. It would be foolish to jump to conclusions and say that this guy is the future of our running game because of one game. Doesn't mean he won't be, but I'm saying that I'm not ready to say that he's "the guy." The only other game where he had 10+ carries last season, he averaged 2.7 a rush. I'm just saying, don't jump to conclusions yet.

hagan714

he is one screw up away from a 1 yr. suspension. him in NO? LOL no way could he make it.