Tampa Bay rushed the ball eight times for 36 yards. That's a very respectable 4.5 yards per carry. If they would have rushed the ball seven more times they would have won the game. They stupidly abandoned the run.

Right?

No.
Winston lead them in rushing with 23 yds. Most of that came on one play where we were caught in man coverage
and he was running for his life.

That was sarcasm, cmike. It was directed to those that claimed the Saints lost last week because they "abandoned the run" while the running game was working. They ignored the fact that a third of the yards gained were on two trick plays with Taysom and Ginn carrying the ball. The Bucs were forced to give up on the run for the exact same reasons as the Saints last week versus the Falcons.

AK averaged 6YPC against ATL

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On four frickin' carries! He averaged more yards than that on his 8 catches!

And the Saints have lost 395 games when they have run the ball 15 or more times.

Once again, people that know the game FAR better than any of us have repeatedly said that the number of rushing attempts in a game has ZERO bearing on the outcome. The flow of the game and the defense, however, has a HUGE bearing on the number of rushing attempts.

Forty-two times in the 52 year history of the Saints they have lost when running the ball less than 15 times. Has it occurred to some of you that the total inability to maintain a drive (other than via pass) might have something to do with a limited number of rushing attempts? Huh?

Once again, I shared a link to the play by play from that Falcons game. I challenged any of you to go to that play by play and tell me exactly which plays should have been a run instead of a pass and your argument as to why.

How about on the 2nd and 10 after being stuffed for zero yards on the first down?

Or how about the 2nd and 9 when the first down run gained only one?

Or how about the 2nd and 8 when Murray was able to rip off the two yard romp?

Or how about on the 3 and nine after Tre'Quan dropped what would have been a 1st down?

Or how about on the 3rd and 14 after Warford committed a false start?

Or how about on the 1st and ten when Brees completed a 14 yrds pass to Thomas?

Or how about any of the final ten plays of the first half (all passes) with 1:31 left on the clock which, by the way, did lead to a field goal as the clock expired?

Or how about on 2nd and 6 when Ginn dropped what would have been a huge gain?

Or how about on 3rd and 8 when Brees picked up 13 yards on a completion to Tre'Quan.

Or how about on any of the last twelve plays of the game with 2:26 left on the clock and down 26-9?

Shall I continue? I can. Tell me when a running play should have been the choice and when the defensive alignment didn't favor a passing play, instead.

Well? Maybe you can find four or five, but there is no assurance they wouldn't end up being stuffed just like most of the other carries.

It's all good and fine to say that they should have run the ball more ... but when in hell's name was it a viable option?

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