Saints don’t think Mark Ingram will be 100 percent when camp starts

Danno · 05-17-2012, 08:18 AM

Originally Posted by burningmetal

If you believe it's "crap" that some of us, such as myself, said we were crowded or loaded at RB, then consider this: We finished 6th in the league in rushing yards per game. Our leading rusher was Darren Sproles with 603 yards... On only 87 carries (That still boggles my mind). When you are 6th in the entire league in rushing and your leading rusher only has 603 yards, it means a lot of guys are contributing. They were all hurt the year before, but they all came back - with the exception of Bush being traded, but obviously we replaced him nicely - and played very well.

Ivory had 374 yards and averaged 4.7 per carry.
Thomas had 562 yards and averaged 5.1
Sproles, as mentioned, had 603 yards and averaged 6.9
Ingram had 474 yards and averaged 3.9.... If he weren't on the team, the other three could have easily picked up the slack, and did just that when he missed all those games.

Then you add the forgotten man in all this, Joique Bell, who was the most impressive RB in camp, but didn't make the cut, and that sounds like a pretty crowded backfield. I'm all for depth, but they gave Pierre a pretty hefty deal for a guy coming off injury, so they obviously had faith in him. Then came the Sproles Signing after drafting Ingram. I loved the Sproles sign, and obviously it turned out even better than we could have imagined, but it makes the Ingram pick in the middle seem pretty weird. You don't usually draft for depth in the first round. But they sure did that time.

You aren't comprehending. At the time we drafted Ingram, we were not loaded at RB.

Again, and again, and again...

No one knew if Ivory would ever play another down of NFL football,

PT missed 11 games with an ankle injury, and then had surgery on it,

Everyone knew Bush was gone.

We did not have Darren Sproles.

We had one healthy RB on the roster with potential, and he was claimed off of another team's practice squad.

So yes, claiming we were loaded at RB when we drafted Ingram is what I call "crap". Actually I'd call it something else but our word filters would asterisk it.

SaintsBro · 05-17-2012, 10:39 AM

Originally Posted by Danno

You aren't comprehending. At the time we drafted Ingram, we were not loaded at RB.

Again, and again, and again...

No one knew if Ivory would ever play another down of NFL football,

PT missed 11 games with an ankle injury, and then had surgery on it,

Everyone knew Bush was gone.

We did not have Darren Sproles.

We had one healthy RB on the roster with potential, and he was claimed off of another team's practice squad.

So yes, claiming we were loaded at RB when we drafted Ingram is what I call "crap". Actually I'd call it something else but our word filters would asterisk it.

Exactly 100%. No one knew they would all come back. PT's injury was a situation like, WTF is going on there, nobody really knew if he would be back AT ALL. We weren't "loaded" at RB and Ingram's "not a need guy"? It was a GLARING NEED, as the second half of the Seahawks playoff game indicated.

And Ingram wasn't drafted just for "depth," at all. He was drafted for the future -- ie 2-3-4 years down the road from now. To me, I see him as being drafted to eventually replace either Ivory or Pierre, down the road, very much the same way that Pierre and Aaron Stecker were sort of battling it out behind Deuce as Deuce McAllister was going downhill in his last days. If he works out, I see Ingram as a solid reliable guy that Drew is going to be handing off a lot to, in Drew's twilight years, after Pierre is gone.

Ingram's also a NON-FUMBLING kind of guy, which I'm sure makes him attractive to Payton, next to Ivory and some of the others who fumble all over the place. You pretty much have to break a knee or ankle or knock him totally unconscious to get Pierre Thomas to fumble. They like that. Some of Ivory's fumbles look like he is throwing the ball at the other team. They don't like that.

I think Payton has basically two kinds of running backs that he works with -- there are guys he trusts and "hangs his hat on," like Deuce, Pierre, Sproles. And then there are the guys he just kind of plugs in there, to see what they can do, or to get whatever he can get out of them. "Throw 'em against the wall to see what sticks" kind of guys. That's your Chris Ivory, PJ Hill, Joique Bell, Mike Bell, Lynell Hamilton, Aaron Stecker type Saints running back. And yes, I love him but I don't think Ivory has quite made it onto that "guys Payton trusts" list just yet.

Those guys go in and out of the doghouse, on again off again, Payton gets interested, but then it's kinda like he gets ADD, and he gives up on them pretty quickly and moves on. But on the other hand, Deuce, Thomas and Sproles, he never gives up on those guys, they are clearly HIS guys.

Pierre started out as one of those plug-and-play guys, but worked his way up to being someone that Payton really trusts. But I see Ingram as eventually being more of that type of guy, a guy Payton can hang his hat on. Maybe he's not living up to your extremely high expectations right now, this very instant -- we do live in an instant gratification world -- but he is definitely a "need" guy based on the lack of viable running backs at the end of the Seattle fiasco.

burningmetal · 05-17-2012, 05:56 PM

Originally Posted by SaintsBro

Exactly 100%. No one knew they would all come back. PT's injury was a situation like, WTF is going on there, nobody really knew if he would be back AT ALL. We weren't "loaded" at RB and Ingram's "not a need guy"? It was a GLARING NEED, as the second half of the Seahawks playoff game indicated.

And Ingram wasn't drafted just for "depth," at all. He was drafted for the future -- ie 2-3-4 years down the road from now. To me, I see him as being drafted to eventually replace either Ivory or Pierre, down the road, very much the same way that Pierre and Aaron Stecker were sort of battling it out behind Deuce as Deuce McAllister was going downhill in his last days. If he works out, I see Ingram as a solid reliable guy that Drew is going to be handing off a lot to, in Drew's twilight years, after Pierre is gone.

Ingram's also a NON-FUMBLING kind of guy, which I'm sure makes him attractive to Payton, next to Ivory and some of the others who fumble all over the place. You pretty much have to break a knee or ankle or knock him totally unconscious to get Pierre Thomas to fumble. They like that. Some of Ivory's fumbles look like he is throwing the ball at the other team. They don't like that.

I think Payton has basically two kinds of running backs that he works with -- there are guys he trusts and "hangs his hat on," like Deuce, Pierre, Sproles. And then there are the guys he just kind of plugs in there, to see what they can do, or to get whatever he can get out of them. "Throw 'em against the wall to see what sticks" kind of guys. That's your Chris Ivory, PJ Hill, Joique Bell, Mike Bell, Lynell Hamilton, Aaron Stecker type Saints running back. And yes, I love him but I don't think Ivory has quite made it onto that "guys Payton trusts" list just yet.

Those guys go in and out of the doghouse, on again off again, Payton gets interested, but then it's kinda like he gets ADD, and he gives up on them pretty quickly and moves on. But on the other hand, Deuce, Thomas and Sproles, he never gives up on those guys, they are clearly HIS guys.

Pierre started out as one of those plug-and-play guys, but worked his way up to being someone that Payton really trusts. But I see Ingram as eventually being more of that type of guy, a guy Payton can hang his hat on. Maybe he's not living up to your extremely high expectations right now, this very instant -- we do live in an instant gratification world -- but he is definitely a "need" guy based on the lack of viable running backs at the end of the Seattle fiasco.

Yes, we had Pierre and Stecker when Deuce was going downhill. How high did we draft them? What did we give up to get them? Pierre was undrafted and Stecker, I'm pretty sure he wasn't either, but either way we signed him from another team at a very low cost.

This is the point I'm making. You don't draft a RB for 3 or 4 years down the road. RB's typically have very short careers, so if you're drafting a guy in the 1st, he better be the guy this year or next. Otherwise find a RB later in the draft. Yeah, I know, we lost in Seattle and had no RB's. None of those guys suffered career enders. Ivory was the biggest question mark, but by the time the draft rolled around, he was doing a lot better, so there was no reason to think he wouldn't be back. And as I said to Danno above, they wouldn't have given Thomas a 5 year deal if they thought he was done. Frankly they wouldn't have if they thought he was even close to done. I get where you're coming from about the injuries the previous year, but there was no reason to assume that all those guys wouldn't be back. Injuries happen, it's the game. You can plan a million years ahead if you'd like. But you can't control what happens in an instant.

burningmetal · 05-17-2012, 05:32 PM

Originally Posted by Danno

You aren't comprehending. At the time we drafted Ingram, we were not loaded at RB.

Again, and again, and again...

No one knew if Ivory would ever play another down of NFL football,

PT missed 11 games with an ankle injury, and then had surgery on it,

Everyone knew Bush was gone.

We did not have Darren Sproles.

We had one healthy RB on the roster with potential, and he was claimed off of another team's practice squad.

So yes, claiming we were loaded at RB when we drafted Ingram is what I call "crap". Actually I'd call it something else but our word filters would asterisk it.

I am comprehending. We signed Thomas to a five year deal, which means they thought he'd be fine. And as for Ivory, there were already reports that he was healing well, unlike some people with his injury. And if they hadn't Drafted Ingram, they would most likely has re-signed Bush. Bush didn't start his whining till after we drafted Ingram. but the very fact that they signed Pierre to a 5 year deal, means that you're committing a lot to that guy and obviously they thought he was healthy, so drafting a RB in the first round as depth when everyone knew our defense sucked was not smart. And you failed to mention Joique Bell, who could have been a more than serviceable third or fourth back. You don't draft guys that high on a possibility that some guy might not come back healthy. It's all about priorities.

I am well aware that Sproles came after Ingram, and I said that. It's the fact that they signed Thomas to that 5 year deal, and Sproles to a 4 year deal that makes drafting Ingram in between seem pointless. Because if they thought Ingram was so great, why Sign Sproles? Don't misunderstand, the signing of Sproles was brilliant, I loved it, and it worked out great. But it made Ingram unnecessary. I love that we have a lot of backs, but I'm speaking in retrospect... We had a need for defense, but instead we traded up to get a RB and in the process lost our first round pick this year.

And yes, if we'd had that first rounder it would have been taken away by Goodell, but again, this is in retrospect. Even so, we would have probably been able to keep the second round pick in that scenario. Instead we got neither. As everything turned out, Ingram looks like a very dumb pick now, but I never liked it in the first place. You guys can disagree with me all you want, and that's cool, but I'm calling it like I see it.

05-17-2012, 08:18 AM	#1
Danno Truth Addict Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Spanish Fort, AL (via NO and B/R) Posts: 24,758	Originally Posted by burningmetal If you believe it's "crap" that some of us, such as myself, said we were crowded or loaded at RB, then consider this: We finished 6th in the league in rushing yards per game. Our leading rusher was Darren Sproles with 603 yards... On only 87 carries (That still boggles my mind). When you are 6th in the entire league in rushing and your leading rusher only has 603 yards, it means a lot of guys are contributing. They were all hurt the year before, but they all came back - with the exception of Bush being traded, but obviously we replaced him nicely - and played very well. Ivory had 374 yards and averaged 4.7 per carry. Thomas had 562 yards and averaged 5.1 Sproles, as mentioned, had 603 yards and averaged 6.9 Ingram had 474 yards and averaged 3.9.... If he weren't on the team, the other three could have easily picked up the slack, and did just that when he missed all those games. Then you add the forgotten man in all this, Joique Bell, who was the most impressive RB in camp, but didn't make the cut, and that sounds like a pretty crowded backfield. I'm all for depth, but they gave Pierre a pretty hefty deal for a guy coming off injury, so they obviously had faith in him. Then came the Sproles Signing after drafting Ingram. I loved the Sproles sign, and obviously it turned out even better than we could have imagined, but it makes the Ingram pick in the middle seem pretty weird. You don't usually draft for depth in the first round. But they sure did that time. You aren't comprehending. At the time we drafted Ingram, we were not loaded at RB. Again, and again, and again... No one knew if Ivory would ever play another down of NFL football, PT missed 11 games with an ankle injury, and then had surgery on it, Everyone knew Bush was gone. We did not have Darren Sproles. We had one healthy RB on the roster with potential, and he was claimed off of another team's practice squad. So yes, claiming we were loaded at RB when we drafted Ingram is what I call "crap". Actually I'd call it something else but our word filters would asterisk it. Rugby Saint II likes this.

05-17-2012, 10:39 AM	#2
SaintsBro Site Donor Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: in line with my ridiculous CLEAR PLASTIC BAG Posts: 3,650 Blog Entries: 3	Originally Posted by Danno You aren't comprehending. At the time we drafted Ingram, we were not loaded at RB. Again, and again, and again... No one knew if Ivory would ever play another down of NFL football, PT missed 11 games with an ankle injury, and then had surgery on it, Everyone knew Bush was gone. We did not have Darren Sproles. We had one healthy RB on the roster with potential, and he was claimed off of another team's practice squad. So yes, claiming we were loaded at RB when we drafted Ingram is what I call "crap". Actually I'd call it something else but our word filters would asterisk it. Exactly 100%. No one knew they would all come back. PT's injury was a situation like, WTF is going on there, nobody really knew if he would be back AT ALL. We weren't "loaded" at RB and Ingram's "not a need guy"? It was a GLARING NEED, as the second half of the Seahawks playoff game indicated. And Ingram wasn't drafted just for "depth," at all. He was drafted for the future -- ie 2-3-4 years down the road from now. To me, I see him as being drafted to eventually replace either Ivory or Pierre, down the road, very much the same way that Pierre and Aaron Stecker were sort of battling it out behind Deuce as Deuce McAllister was going downhill in his last days. If he works out, I see Ingram as a solid reliable guy that Drew is going to be handing off a lot to, in Drew's twilight years, after Pierre is gone. Ingram's also a NON-FUMBLING kind of guy, which I'm sure makes him attractive to Payton, next to Ivory and some of the others who fumble all over the place. You pretty much have to break a knee or ankle or knock him totally unconscious to get Pierre Thomas to fumble. They like that. Some of Ivory's fumbles look like he is throwing the ball at the other team. They don't like that. I think Payton has basically two kinds of running backs that he works with -- there are guys he trusts and "hangs his hat on," like Deuce, Pierre, Sproles. And then there are the guys he just kind of plugs in there, to see what they can do, or to get whatever he can get out of them. "Throw 'em against the wall to see what sticks" kind of guys. That's your Chris Ivory, PJ Hill, Joique Bell, Mike Bell, Lynell Hamilton, Aaron Stecker type Saints running back. And yes, I love him but I don't think Ivory has quite made it onto that "guys Payton trusts" list just yet. Those guys go in and out of the doghouse, on again off again, Payton gets interested, but then it's kinda like he gets ADD, and he gives up on them pretty quickly and moves on. But on the other hand, Deuce, Thomas and Sproles, he never gives up on those guys, they are clearly HIS guys. Pierre started out as one of those plug-and-play guys, but worked his way up to being someone that Payton really trusts. But I see Ingram as eventually being more of that type of guy, a guy Payton can hang his hat on. Maybe he's not living up to your extremely high expectations right now, this very instant -- we do live in an instant gratification world -- but he is definitely a "need" guy based on the lack of viable running backs at the end of the Seattle fiasco.

05-17-2012, 05:56 PM	#3
burningmetal 1000 Posts + Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 3,923 Blog Entries: 3	Originally Posted by SaintsBro Exactly 100%. No one knew they would all come back. PT's injury was a situation like, WTF is going on there, nobody really knew if he would be back AT ALL. We weren't "loaded" at RB and Ingram's "not a need guy"? It was a GLARING NEED, as the second half of the Seahawks playoff game indicated. And Ingram wasn't drafted just for "depth," at all. He was drafted for the future -- ie 2-3-4 years down the road from now. To me, I see him as being drafted to eventually replace either Ivory or Pierre, down the road, very much the same way that Pierre and Aaron Stecker were sort of battling it out behind Deuce as Deuce McAllister was going downhill in his last days. If he works out, I see Ingram as a solid reliable guy that Drew is going to be handing off a lot to, in Drew's twilight years, after Pierre is gone. Ingram's also a NON-FUMBLING kind of guy, which I'm sure makes him attractive to Payton, next to Ivory and some of the others who fumble all over the place. You pretty much have to break a knee or ankle or knock him totally unconscious to get Pierre Thomas to fumble. They like that. Some of Ivory's fumbles look like he is throwing the ball at the other team. They don't like that. I think Payton has basically two kinds of running backs that he works with -- there are guys he trusts and "hangs his hat on," like Deuce, Pierre, Sproles. And then there are the guys he just kind of plugs in there, to see what they can do, or to get whatever he can get out of them. "Throw 'em against the wall to see what sticks" kind of guys. That's your Chris Ivory, PJ Hill, Joique Bell, Mike Bell, Lynell Hamilton, Aaron Stecker type Saints running back. And yes, I love him but I don't think Ivory has quite made it onto that "guys Payton trusts" list just yet. Those guys go in and out of the doghouse, on again off again, Payton gets interested, but then it's kinda like he gets ADD, and he gives up on them pretty quickly and moves on. But on the other hand, Deuce, Thomas and Sproles, he never gives up on those guys, they are clearly HIS guys. Pierre started out as one of those plug-and-play guys, but worked his way up to being someone that Payton really trusts. But I see Ingram as eventually being more of that type of guy, a guy Payton can hang his hat on. Maybe he's not living up to your extremely high expectations right now, this very instant -- we do live in an instant gratification world -- but he is definitely a "need" guy based on the lack of viable running backs at the end of the Seattle fiasco. Yes, we had Pierre and Stecker when Deuce was going downhill. How high did we draft them? What did we give up to get them? Pierre was undrafted and Stecker, I'm pretty sure he wasn't either, but either way we signed him from another team at a very low cost. This is the point I'm making. You don't draft a RB for 3 or 4 years down the road. RB's typically have very short careers, so if you're drafting a guy in the 1st, he better be the guy this year or next. Otherwise find a RB later in the draft. Yeah, I know, we lost in Seattle and had no RB's. None of those guys suffered career enders. Ivory was the biggest question mark, but by the time the draft rolled around, he was doing a lot better, so there was no reason to think he wouldn't be back. And as I said to Danno above, they wouldn't have given Thomas a 5 year deal if they thought he was done. Frankly they wouldn't have if they thought he was even close to done. I get where you're coming from about the injuries the previous year, but there was no reason to assume that all those guys wouldn't be back. Injuries happen, it's the game. You can plan a million years ahead if you'd like. But you can't control what happens in an instant.
	If I had a nickel for every time I heard that, the NFL would fine and suspend me.

05-17-2012, 05:32 PM	#4
burningmetal 1000 Posts + Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 3,923 Blog Entries: 3	Originally Posted by Danno You aren't comprehending. At the time we drafted Ingram, we were not loaded at RB. Again, and again, and again... No one knew if Ivory would ever play another down of NFL football, PT missed 11 games with an ankle injury, and then had surgery on it, Everyone knew Bush was gone. We did not have Darren Sproles. We had one healthy RB on the roster with potential, and he was claimed off of another team's practice squad. So yes, claiming we were loaded at RB when we drafted Ingram is what I call "crap". Actually I'd call it something else but our word filters would asterisk it. I am comprehending. We signed Thomas to a five year deal, which means they thought he'd be fine. And as for Ivory, there were already reports that he was healing well, unlike some people with his injury. And if they hadn't Drafted Ingram, they would most likely has re-signed Bush. Bush didn't start his whining till after we drafted Ingram. but the very fact that they signed Pierre to a 5 year deal, means that you're committing a lot to that guy and obviously they thought he was healthy, so drafting a RB in the first round as depth when everyone knew our defense sucked was not smart. And you failed to mention Joique Bell, who could have been a more than serviceable third or fourth back. You don't draft guys that high on a possibility that some guy might not come back healthy. It's all about priorities. I am well aware that Sproles came after Ingram, and I said that. It's the fact that they signed Thomas to that 5 year deal, and Sproles to a 4 year deal that makes drafting Ingram in between seem pointless. Because if they thought Ingram was so great, why Sign Sproles? Don't misunderstand, the signing of Sproles was brilliant, I loved it, and it worked out great. But it made Ingram unnecessary. I love that we have a lot of backs, but I'm speaking in retrospect... We had a need for defense, but instead we traded up to get a RB and in the process lost our first round pick this year. And yes, if we'd had that first rounder it would have been taken away by Goodell, but again, this is in retrospect. Even so, we would have probably been able to keep the second round pick in that scenario. Instead we got neither. As everything turned out, Ingram looks like a very dumb pick now, but I never liked it in the first place. You guys can disagree with me all you want, and that's cool, but I'm calling it like I see it.
	If I had a nickel for every time I heard that, the NFL would fine and suspend me.