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The Saints took a field goal off the scoreboard to attempt a fourth-down run from the 1-yard line at the end of the first half. But running back Mark Ingram was stuffed for no gain, forcing the Saints into the locker room with nothing to show for their effort.

Payton said he "did a poor job of really giving our guys the best opportunity," shifting the blame from the players to himself.

Ingram, who was also pushed back for a loss on second-and-goal, took the brunt of the criticism on the sequence of events. He had only eight rushes for 20 yards Sunday.

"He had some good runs in that game," Payton said. "I think the balance and the mix of the players we have is going to be important for us, especially at the running back position. The fourth-down call, we ended up getting an over front, a different defense than we were expecting.

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blackangold

Payton seems to invested in Ingram to bench the guy... Wonder how much longer we will see Mr. 2 ypc get the majority of the load. Its a shame we let Ivory go for this chump, we have a mini Ivory in Robinson who will never see the field because of Mr. 2ypc.

|Mitch|

Seriously?! We traded Ivory for the opportunity to draft John Jenkins. Jenkins has outplayed Ivory and Ingram both combined so far this year...

Mardigras9

Should have been PT in that situation, that is the only real mistake.

TheOak

@LarryHolder: RT @Gil_Brandt: Look for @Saints coach Sean Payton to become spokesperson for @Reebok. Contract to include bonus for being named COY.

Jack Vegas

This is what a good coach does. Privately I bet he is just as frustrated with Ingram as the rest of us. You might notice that Ingram played very few snaps in the second half of that game and I think only touched the ball once.

Also, forget Ivory. He's too injury prone to play that "tough back" role effectively over the course of a whole season. But you know who I miss? Mike Bell. That dude was money, a perfect fit for the offense, and we let him walk for nothing.

SaintsBro

I think even WITHOUT the Ingram factor, it was totally not the right play call. Payton even says it -- he knew that whatever the initial call was on the field, from the refs, touchdown or no touchdown, he knew it was not going to be overturned, regardless of whether it REALLY was a touchdown or not. It was just gonna be a big pile of bodies, and they always let the initial ruling on the field stand when they see that. The only way to make that play is to REALLY make it, where the guy is unequivocally IN THE END ZONE, busted completely through, or stretched out where he falls into the end zone by three or four feet. Because everything else with trying to figure out is his knee down or was forward progress stopped, where is the invisible line, did he get across, that's all just malarky when it comes to a referee deciding a touchdown like that. You have to be clearly IN to get it. And Ingram is just not "that" guy.

Psychologically, the refs had already seen the Saints O-line get pushed back and pushed back, when running the ball right there. They were NOT gonna give the Saints the benefit of the doubt, on a sketchy touchdown push, "breaking the plane" type stuff, NO WAY.

TheOak

Yea but we would have to assign Mike Bell his own personal equipment manager.

Danno

Right about Ivory, but Mike Bell was no better than Ingram.

lee909

Just give the ball to Terron Armstead on short work,his 40yard time is 0:03 behind Ingram and try stopping a 305lb man gaining that yard.

Im only half serious but it could work