The journey of Chris Ivory: Dismissed, discarded and, finally, celebrated
I show Chris only played 6 games for us in 2011 and a total of 6 in 2012. Is that accurate? Did he miss 10 games a season because of injuries? If so, that is why we took what we could get for him.
What you are showing probably is accurate, in terms of the games played. However, in 2011 he started the season on PUP, due to not being fully healed from the foot injury he had at the end of the 2010 season. In 2012, for reasons known only to our fill-in coaches.........he was a healthy scratch up until November.
Look, I don't claim to know more football than Kroemer, Vitt, or Payton.........but I know what my eyes see, and research shows this: when Ivory carried the ball 8 or more times for the Saints, they had a 13-4 record (that includes both playoff games in 2011). So, 12-3 in the regular seasons. And 2 of those regular season losses occurred early in 2010, which was his rookie season and during a stretch when the defending champs were losing games to teams like Arizona and Cleveland...............and the 3rd was vs. Frisco in 2012.
(As a useless trivia fact, they were actually 5-0 in games where he scored a TD)
I'm sure someone can justify and spin it as though Ivory was just merely in the right place at the right time. And, maybe Ingram and/or Pierre has/had a solid W/L record when they got 8 or more carries. I haven't checked. But it sure looks to me like the Saints tended to have success when Ivory was featured. Yes, the injuries aren't just something that can be glossed over......but as others have pointed out, pretty much any RB on our roster in the Payton era has dealt with injuries and missed significant amounts of time.
Although I do have to admit I get some degree of satisfaction reading that quote from the anonymous personnel exec, stating that they felt Ivory was the best RB this team had. When some others were all "he can't stay healthy" "he can't block" "he can't catch".....I never once left the bandwagon. And it was downright comical for a while in 2012 watching the excuses fly from his detractors when he came in and ripped it up against Philly and ATL. "The O-line is just playing better now that Kroemer can focus on them". Yeah ok. :spit: