Heath Evans... Saints seek balance with diverse, Adrian Peterson-led backfield (1 Viewer)

[bigdog]

I understand that and agree that Ingram doesn't get his due, HOWEVER... Peterson is one of the best pure RB's in NFL history.

Yep, and if he is healthy and has that "I'll show them" attitude he's going to be a handful. If, and that's a big if, he's anywhere close to what he was, he can take a game over. That would not only make the Saints scary good on offense it would allow the defense a lot of rest on the sidelines. Nothing against Ingram either because he runs harder when there is competition.

 

[St.Dan]

Blatantly obvious the team is aiming for more balance by bringing AP on board. As I've said on here before, I'm just hoping for something close to the numerical distribution in the backfield we saw during the Super Bowl year.

Question for this thread's followers, especially if you're at least 40 years old. Does Ingram's skill set compare favorably to Thurman Thomas of the early '90s Buffalo Bills? That was a pass-first offense, like the Saints offense is. Thomas still put up numbers that landed him in the HOF. Can Ingram develop into a Thurman Thomas-type as Drew plays out his final seasons and perhaps plays beyond the Brees years?

 

[Summed7]

One thing Mike Lombardi talks about with older running backs on contending teams, ala Lynch and Peterson, is to use them as closers. Don't worry about the 1st 8 games. Give em a couple carries here and there to wet their appetite and keep them engaged. But sell them on ramping up those last 4 games going into the playoffs. While everyone else is wearing down, let AP start dropping the hammer. You only have so many carries in your legs, let's make those count.

 

[Quiet Storm]

The 09 team also had a ball hawking D that had 26 ints and 30+ takeaways overall. That D also scored 5 TDs, including the SB winning Tracy Porter TD. Meanwhile, the 2011 defense produced only 9 ints.

It's often said the best defense is a good offense. As good as it was, the 09 offense had a lil help from dat D!

I think people are missing that point. We had 39 takeaways in '09. Sharper himself had 9 INT's..our D that year gave our offense the ball back a lot.

We jumped on teams early and ran it on them to close out the game. That's where the "Balance" came from.