Has Kamara's Dynamism Spoiled our backfield? (1 Viewer)

Winter

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At the end of his rookie and 2nd season, Kamara was, without a doubt, the steal of the 2017 draft; outscoring McCaffrey, Fournette, Dalvin Cook and Kareem Hunt. A year later, Boston Scott, the 4th RB on the depth chart a year ago, is making more headlines than Kamara. Injury or not, he was not the dynamic player/backfield safety net this team needed in that RB/Scat back role. Call it couch QBing, but it has been a recurring cry from the fan base that Payton commit to more emphasis on the power run game. We all thought the Brees injury was a blessing in disguise; shedding the light on new ways this team can take over their opponent. Its been stated a million times, but again, we went 5-0 with a power run and ball control offense. A lot of factors there, most notably the health of some positions. Despite that, as soon as Brees returned, all of that, ALL of it, went out the window. Despite sup-par defenses falling victim to the precision of a Drew and Payton attack, they never kept that ground and pound knowledge in their back pocket. Instead, down the stretch, they kept feeding Kamara the same stretch runs and passes in the flat. Giving Murray enough carries to keep him satisfied, but not enough for him to start punishing defenses. Everyone was high on Kamara's 4TDs in the last 2 games, but to me, those were gimmes. Those weren't Kamara TDs like we know them to be.

I think Payton often out coaches himself. He's rarely the coach to call a play until the opposing defense learns to stop it, yet he's always quick to go back to what historically has worked whether or not it's working in the actual game. It was clear the Vikings defense put all their chips in on stopping Thomas, Kamara and rushing up the middle like Atlanta did. Despite having success with Murray, Taysom and Cook, drives were stalled by forcing the ball to Thomas and Kamara. Kamara just wasn't the same at this point in the season, yet he was relied on to be a difference maker while Murray sat on the sideline.

Maybe this is more of a referendum on Payton than Kamara. Either way, the opportunities given to Kamara compared to the production did not make logical sense to me in the latter part of this season.
 
I agree it's almost like coach Peyton felt he needed to to keep forcing the ball to Kamera and eventually things will get back to normal. It was very obvious the guy isn't right and we seem to have much more success overall with Murray. I really like Kamara and I hope he stays with the saints and we don't trade him away like a rumours are saying. But now I'm gonna go gets injured and is no longer effective I don't understand why you don't just let him rest and heal up. At the very least lighten his load a bit but we just kept forcing it to him.
 
No one could put their figure on it...I will never be able to explain letting Murray fully healthy warm the bench...It infuriates me...He was a bruiser and ready to go against his former team and "oh just go sit over there" ...I'm all for feeding AK if hes healthy but come on man he goes straight down now, whether his agent is telling him don't get more hurt or whatever, why did Payton keep feeding him so much knowing he was like 60 %? Murray could have countered that DE moving inside maneuver with power running but carries have to be given
 
Maybe its too much to ask for

any defense accounting his abilities will shatter him
Payton calling toss plays behind the los wont help either

sure, if he makes 1-2 defenders whif its a good run. But that didnt happen very often lately and running the concept over and over again wont work
 
I agree it's almost like coach Peyton felt he needed to to keep forcing the ball to Kamera and eventually things will get back to normal. It was very obvious the guy isn't right and we seem to have much more success overall with Murray. I really like Kamara and I hope he stays with the saints and we don't trade him away like a rumours are saying. But now I'm gonna go gets injured and is no longer effective I don't understand why you don't just let him rest and heal up. At the very least lighten his load a bit but we just kept forcing it to him.
This is one of my long running beefs.

Payton is so stubborn and loyal to a fault.

He is at key points really slow to address things that are obvious to everyone, whether the performance of coaches or individual players.

Kamara for whatever reason was not the same. There were flashes here and there but he hurt the team more than helped it in the MN game. Should have had a plan B for Kamara being ineffective. And should have nevcer been calling Kamara to the edge on a 3rd and 1 when every drive and every play is critical.

The fact he would call that play in that situations should be taken as great insight into the mind of Payton.
 
Everybody on this board convince themselves that more Kamara equaled more big plays (like its a video game) and he got worn down...also when the only threats on offense are Thomas and Kamara Payton had to use what he had to keep the threat of his offense threatening and Kamara wore down.


the biggest question is why did he not feature Murray more, was it to not make Kamara feel like he was taking a backseat to a FA when in fact Mark Ingram was the feature runner and Kamara took a backseat to him but was still a complimentary piece that got you 800rushing and 800 receiving and 10 tds.
 
SP started telegraphing the plays to Kamara, just like the WR screen on 3rd down to Brandin Cooks
 

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