The journey of Chris Ivory: Dismissed, discarded and, finally, celebrated (8 Viewers)

[CharlesoftheCorn]

I always thought Chris had the capabilities to be a HOF Back if healthy and given the ball enough. I know it's too late now, but what a talented, high-effort player he is.

Nobody runs like Chris Ivory. You can tell he loves playing Football without ever hearing him speak.

 

[98greenGT]

This was interesting:
"I don't know why they traded him," said a longtime personnel executive, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "To me, he was the best back they had."

Many of us felt the same way.

I understood it. He couldn't stay on the field. What good is he if he's not playing.

 

[MLU]

Ivory has a lot of wear on his body before he ever arrived in the NFL. The Saints have been burned too many times by injury at RB, so it makes sense to move him while he had value. He was an RFA and was traded for a 4th round pick used to trade up to get John Jenkins. I am ghrilled to sed him do well, but he only has a couple years left the way he runs.

 

[meily]

I understood it. He couldn't stay on the field. What good is he if he's not playing.

Everyback on our current roster has missed time due to injury. It's part of the game, its not an indicator of ability.

 

[LORD_BREESUS]

"The best back we had"

I think that's arguable. I think id take a prime PT over Ivory 10/10 times. It's more of a scheme fit thing. Ivory is a great pure runner, can't do the pass protection and wasn't a good receiver. Not to mention his annual injury bug. Typically a hammy strain he'd give himself after being active a handful of games.

 

[Goatman Saint]

The best back we had. This team has had 4 very good RBs that I remember. Rogers, Hilliard, Duece and Thomas. Notice, no Ivory. Ivory is a great runner who gets banged up quite a bit, can't pass block, doesn't catch and plays for a run first offense. How would that fit what Payton does?

 

[Zztop]

i found the stiff-arm .gif !

and also this one, which i liked

 

[Dan in Lafayette]

We'll always post mediocre rushing stats. It has nothing to do with the back. It's the system.

Worked for Deuce.

 

[AGW85]

The best back we had. This team has had 4 very good RBs that I remember. Rogers, Hilliard, Duece and Thomas. Notice, no Ivory. Ivory is a great runner who gets banged up quite a bit, can't pass block, doesn't catch and plays for a run first offense. How would that fit what Payton does?

See, this is what I want to know. Has Ivory learned how to pass protect and work out of the shotgun? Maybe he has. I don't watch the Jets games. I don't know.

But I can understand Payton's and Loomis' thought processes. Our wagon is hitched to Brees, not to the running game. If Ivory limits how "multiple" we can be, and he's an injury risk, the trade makes sense.

Ingram probably isn't as good as Ivory, but I give Ingram a lot of credit for expanding his game. You now see Ingram flanking Brees in the shotgun on third down. That was unimaginable three years ago.

With that said, Man is it fun to watch Ivory run over Falcons players.

 

[bclemms]

Worked for Deuce.

Worked for Ivory, PT and Sproles too.

 

[la. champ1]

This was interesting:
"I don't know why they traded him," said a longtime personnel executive, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "To me, he was the best back they had."

Many of us felt the same way.

Ain't that the truth. Best back we ever had in the Payton era not named Mcallister or Pierre.

 

[HoustonSaint68]

Trading Ivory was debated extensively on the board at the time it happened. Like the guy in the article, I thought then, and still think now, he was the best pure running back on the team--better than Ingram; more explosive. The issues were injury and versatility. I always got the sense that the Saints didn't trust Chris in the passing game--both catching the ball out of the backfield and picking up blitzes to protect Brees. So when someone had to go the kept the more dependable (and higher draft pick) Ingram and let the guy with the most potential, Ivory, go for a decent fourth round compensation. I disagreed with the decision at the time and still do. I would have kept both Ivory and Sproles and let either Ingram or Pierre Thomas walk (as much as I love PT!). Injuries were a legit concern, but Ingram had been hurt a lot too. Ingram is a solid NFL RB. But he doesn't have Ingram's speed or power.

Puzzled at the thumbs down on this. Other than the last sentence (which I think the OP meant to say Ivory and not Ingram), it's spot on from my perspective. Then again, that likely error in the last sentence probably explains it.

 

[Icon]

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.

 

[NCSaint]

Similar situation with CJ. Payton said yesterday he is slated for a "handfull of touches" per game. We are choreographed down to the nth degree and it when it works it is beautiful. Many times it doesn't though.

 

[Mudbug67]

That's nonsense. Our rushing stats for 2009 and 2011 were exceptional, which also corresponds to our 2 most successful years as a franchise. I don't think that is coincidence.

Unless you factor in that our opponents were always mindfull of our passing attack. Just saying
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