Ingram benched [OLD THREAD BUMPED]

DaveXA said

I don't necessarily disagree, but I'm comparing him with Hightower. And, I'd like to see another legitimate back come here and see how well he does in this offense. I'm not convinced the numbers would be all that much better unless Payton starts calling most games like he did vs Seattle.

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Consider this, after we let Carl Nicks go, our oline has been suspect at best. It's interesting that the Primary back to compare Ingram with in the past few seasons, the averages are almost identical.

People are saying Ingram hasn't been a receiver until now. We had Pierre Thomas, that was Pierre Thomas's PRIMARY role on this team. It is amazing as soon as Pierre leaves, that role is picked up by Mark. It wasn't as if he couldn't do it. He didn't have to do it. Ingram was a run first back, and in my opinion, and this is really the key to this whole argument, When Ingram was on the field people KNEW THE SAINTS WERE RUNNING THE BALL. It is no coincidence that when Ingram was finally allowed be a part of the passing game that his numbers sharply increased. This same sentiment shines brightly in Khiry's numbers during that same time frame. When Khiry was on the field THE SAINTS WERE RUNNING THE BALL.

The sentiment people also like to bring up is... Ingram runs into the backs of his blockers. If Ingram didn't run into the backs of his blockers he would be worse than Reggie Bush, you don't bounce the ball just because your hole isn't there. If you run up and push through your blockers when your hole isn't there, you gain yardage. That is one thing Ingram has always gotten right, don't lose yards bouncing when you can push through the pile and get 1 or 2 yards. That is what makes him a reliable runner, you may end up with 2nd and 8 or even 9, but you normally won't end up at 2nd and 12 or 14 when he runs.