homerj07

Good read on Ingram.

For Saints RB Mark Ingram, It's Now or Never

hagan714

great article

i believe he is playing for a pay check value this year. i can see him staying with the saints next year. At what cap value will all rests on his shoulders.

I can not sign his praise nor will i dump on him. way to many things have to be factored into his time here. System, health, deterioration of the OL, ect ect ect

i for one would love for him to live up the draft value we put on him. he just needs to go out there and do it

SaintFanInATLHELL

I think that's going to be a bit unfair to put on him. It's simply to the way to Saints' offense is designed. Touches are simply too distributed for any skill player to live up to a high draft ranking. We've seen it before with both Bush and Meachem. The thought was because they were drafted in the first round that automatically meant that they were supposed to produce at the same level as 1st round picks in other offensive systems. But a significant amount of that production comes simply from the number of touches.

Let's not forget that the last time a Saints' back had more than 200 rushing attempts was Deuce McAllister in 2006. No one has even come close since.
IIRC it was 1041 yards on 241 rush attempts. Honestly, that wasn't great production per rush (4.2 YPC).

So what I'd like to see is a continuation of what I've seen since the middle of last season: Good production per touch. If Ingram gets 750 yards this season on 150 rush attempts, then while the total number doesn't look stellar, the 5 YPC represents excellent production in the touches that he did get.

All the Saints' running backs have a couple of jobs this season:

1. Be productive enough that the defense has to account for them. This sets up the play action for explosive plays.

2. Be versatile enough in rushing, pass catching, and blitz pickup that when any of the backs are in the game, that the defense cannot get a tendency on the play that will be run.

3. Stay healthy. It's a long season.

So I hope that Ingram can be productive. I don't think that the Saints will be able to afford him next year as there will be teams with dollars and RB issues that will offer him a big contract.

But this year while he have him, let's put him in the best position to push the team to the promised land.

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.

Rugby Saint II

Hopefully it's now.

hagan714

I agree. system is not really ever going to allow it. stay on the field and for the love of all that of holy put the un drafted upstart behind you in the peeking order.

AllSaints

He looked great in Preseason, hopefully he pick up where he left off in atlanta

billyt81

I believe this is Ingrams year. A health Colston and Graham plus Cooks means teams can't stack the box anymore. No more excuses. Plus it's his contract year. I predict 1200+yds.

SaintFanInATLHELL

How many rush attempts? What's the yards per carry?

The 1200 number doesn't make much sense without a context. As I stated in my previous post, the last 1000 rusher for the Saints was Deuce with 1057 yards on 241 attempts. No one has had more than 175 attempts since. That's barely 11 rush attempts per game.

So what exactly is going to change about the Saints' offfense to facilitate this? The shuffling of personnel is actually a part of the schematic framework of the offense.

I know there are folks on this forum that believe that the Saints should have a primary rusher who gets 25 attempts per game. But it simply doesn't match either the reality or the history of this offense in the last 7 years. Even in 2009 when the Saints had the #6 rush offense Brees still threw for 514 attempts, nearly 4400 yards and 34 TDs. Of course each of those numbers have skyrocketed over the last 3 years.

Unless Ingram gets into the rarified air of 8 YPC for the entire year, it's unlikely that he will get enough touches to reach this type of level.

I could be wrong of course, but I just cannot see it.

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.

Cruize

When he raises his hand, take him out of the game.