jeanpierre

At the end of the day, especially considering the contract details and numbers, if Mark Ingram and Sean Payton really wanted to stay together - they would be...

#notbuyingit

TheOak

Mark Ingram just like most RBs has always wants/wanted to be a feature back. This may have had more to with what the Ravens promised him vs the carry's he knew he would/wouldn't get with the Saints, than money. Especially since it 'looks' like we signed an additional RB before Mark signed with the Ravens..

jeanpierre - Payton said he tried calling him and I would have to assume that calling was the first option attempted, then the texting or direct message.

CHA_CHING

I look for Baltimore to continue to run their weird Smashmouth style offense with Lamar Jackson. They will run Ingram in this offense and who knows? He might rack up big numbers due to a run heavy offense, but the pressure won't be on him.

That offense won't get them far unless Jackson eventually develops as a passer. This is not the 1960's or 1970's and you can't run an offense centered around a rush-heavy approach anymore. Even back then, the teams who won SBs all had an above average passing game and good QB play.

The 2000 Ravens and 2015 Broncos are the two exceptions of winning SBs with historical defenses doing all the heavy lifting. The 2000 Ravens had one of the easiest schedules ever facing god awful QBs cause 2000 was right in the middle of that weird 3 year period between 1999 to 2001 where there really weren't any great teams. The 1999 Rams and 2000 Ravens both benefited from years where the league was at a time of change (The 2001 Rams too, as they benefited from a third year in a row with a weak NFC).

That Broncos team from a few years ago had a poor offense with the corpse of Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler at QB, but I believe it helped that Manning still had his smarts and could read defenses. Despite how bad he was in 2015, Manning was smart in that playoff run up to the SB to run the ball, not force any bad passes and make zero turnovers. But it still took a historical defense to even get them there.

The term "defense wins championships" has some truth to it, but many people forget that the defense needs a bit of help from their offense. Like I have said before about the 1985 Bears; many people leave out that they had an elite offense that year and it was one of the few years of Walter Payton's career where the offense had an above average passing game and at least good QB play. IMO this was the problem with the Dome Patrol during Mora's year. They only had one year (1992) where they had an above average passing game and yet Hebert saved his worst game for the playoffs that year.

I don't think we'll ever see another team like the 2000 Ravens or 2015 Broncos win the SB with all defense now that the rules don't allow you to really get physical and rough up QBs and WRs. Baltimore last year was like a carbon copy of their old 2000's teams. They had the struggling offense but countered it with an elite defense. It didn't get them anywhere, cause the defense can't score points. That defense was not the problem either vs the Chargers. They did their jobs while the offense kept shooting themselves up in the foot.