darstep

Ingram had a pretty good rookie season IMO.
He seemed not to know what to do after he broke the line of scrimage untouched.
There were several instances where he could have broke outside or cut back and
got a boat load, but he ran right up blockers and defenders backs,
almost as if he wasn't looking. I'm sure he's been looking at footage and will
improve his open field vision for this season. Ingram has the tools to do everything
we need him to do: run, catch and protect. I hope he can find his groove, and he
and the other guys are able to stay healthy and productive.

**SaintSince67**

Danno

Its game speed. He often went full speed and either outran his blockers or ran right into the back of them. Reggie used to do this a lot.

He needs to learn the patience aspect of the game. A slight delay here and there to allow a blocker time to engage the defender... In his prime Shawn Alexander was fantastic at that.

pherein

Yeah, 122 attempts is a pretty weak season. His 3.9 ypc is great. Ingram is no A.Peterson, and needs time to adjust too the speed and size of the guys playing in the NFL secondary. I saw what you saw.
Ive always thought that running back was the 2nd hardest position on the field. The main reason is that RB's have to have a ability from birth that can't be coached to be good or great.
If you don't have perifial vision, or whatever the intangible is to find an opening or make people miss in a sea of bodies trying to take your head off, your never going to have it.
The ability to feel your way threw the defense without seeing or thinking is not a common ability, and Ive noticed speed has nothing to do with the RB position, and over training a RB can actually hurt this naturally born ability.

When you take the ball and hit the hole its less than a second. You can't see anything really. You feel your way threw and just instinctively know what angles to take or where the enemies are in space around you. Its mostly an instinctive position.

They also need to be tougher than anyone on the field, and have and uncanny motor or drive to constantly hit a brick wall, get back up, and still think no one is going to stop you.

Going from college to the NFL must be very difficult. The instinct in your head has to change to account for bigger and faster guys in the secondary. You might still feel them, but are surprised by how fast they get to you, close angles you thought were open, and that they can even catch you from behind must be a shock,lol. It would have shocked me.

Ive notice RB's that get confused in space in the NFL typically take on the bruiser approach, smashing into a enemy, and hoping to put him down to get a open lane, instead of knowing the angles. Or like Bush, over juke at wrong times.

Ingram just needs a little time to adjust, but Ive seen that he has the god given ability to make it at the NFL level. Some of his inside running was all instincts, and pretty brilliant. I simple dip of the shoulder, becoming small to fit a space, or quickly using a defenders body against himself to generate yards was impressive sometimes.
Ingram is one of those rare RB's where even if his instincts never catch up completely, his motor, power running, and toughness insures him a career at the NFL level. Im actually impressed by the lack of touches he had, its very hard to run cold at any level, and that he ran so well inside. He really reminds of Duece, and think he might end up being better than Frank Gore because of his screen pass ability.

Saints proved that pigs could fly in 2009.
Now its time for another miracle SuperBowl and go where no pig has gone before.