With a healthy Bell and Thomas (1 Viewer)

[Rod-138]

Heard coach likes to play who's 'hot.'

I think its Pierre until he starts to get stuffed. Then Bell until he gets stuffed. Then Pierre. Then Bell.

 

[Flipx99]

I would like to see PT used as decoy some, just to give RB a breather.

 

[grknola]

I spoke with Mike Bell this past saturday and he said he is aiming to play against the giants.

 

[Daddy_Duke]

Put one at LT.

 

[mvtrucking]

IIRC, Sprained mcl is about 4 weeks?

I'm thinking 3-4 weeks also, depending on degree. He may be back after the bye.(Guess only)

 

[CHI-TOWNSAINT]

I would like to see Bell get a lot of the early touches in the game to wear down the defense and use P. Thomas in the 2nd half to put the game away. The Saints have 2 guys that can go in there and get 100 yards for you a game much like Dalton and R. Mayes from back in the day.

Funny thing about Hilliard. His legacy is so much greater than his actual play, it's ridiculous. His overall YPC average is 3.7. He only had one season where he gained over 1k yards and that year his average was 3.7 YPC. He gained less than 4 YPC 6 of his 8 years with his worst year being 3.2 YPC. His average season rushing was around 400-500 yards a year.

It's pretty sad he's considered a Saint "great".

Hilliard was a poor man's Reggie Bush. Judging by the comments Hilliard routinely gets compared to Bush's comments, you'd think it would be the reverse.

 

[benjoefoe]

Don't expect to see Bell until after the bye....I do wanna see more running back tandems though; they can only cover one or the other. I believe using more of these sets is when we'll see Bush explode.

 

[bradman1965]

Funny thing about Hilliard. His legacy is so much greater than his actual play, it's ridiculous. His overall YPC average is 3.7. He only had one season where he gained over 1k yards and that year his average was 3.7 YPC. He gained less than 4 YPC 6 of his 8 years with his worst year being 3.2 YPC. His average season rushing was around 400-500 yards a year.

It's pretty sad he's considered a Saint "great".

Hilliard was a poor man's Reggie Bush. Judging by the comments Hilliard routinely gets compared to Bush's comments, you'd think it would be the reverse.

I"m not one to play the your too young to understand card, but Dalton was at his best at the same time the Saints *finally* broke through many, many years of awful football. Dalton is not about stats, but about being part of a team that started to win games and mean something. imho.

 

[K.B.]

Taking nothing away from Bell as he's been great this offseason and season (work ethic, play, etc), but Thomas is the more talented back. By far, in my opinion.

With this said, I believe that when both are healthy we should see a split of 65/35 to 60/40 in Thomas' favor and it will be very difficult for the opposing defenses with fresh legs in there for us.

they seem pretty equal to me and they both get the job done. so do u care to explain why u think thomas is the most talented?

 

[CHI-TOWNSAINT]

I"m not one to play the your too young to understand card, but Dalton was at his best at the same time the Saints *finally* broke through many, many years of awful football. Dalton is not about stats, but about being part of a team that started to win games and mean something. imho.

The post I referred to said Hilliard and Mayes had a great chance of gaining 100 yards any game, which isn't close to being true.

I didn't intend to put down Hilliard, only to show he didn't produce any better than Bush has, yet he's regarded as a better runner. I think I know the answer why.......colors they wore before they were Saints.

 

[bkmowad]

Don't wanna be a downer on this thread, but we were lucky on the timing of PT coming back, and would be very lucky indeed if they are ever both healthy at the same time. Look at Dallas, Barber was out last night, then Jones went down.

I hope they can stay healthy, but we might be bouncing back and forth between them through the season.

 

[Surviving Saint]

I remember years ago, late 60's early 70's, LSU had a powerful duo at RB's. They used one in the first half, then brought in the fresh legs in the second half when the D was tired. I know it's college, but it worked well for them. Assuming Reggie get his touches, how would this work with Bell and Thomas?

This is how I hope we use them.

 

[bradman1965]

I think I know the answer why.......colors they wore before they were Saints.

I think that has something to do with it, but again, I think it's difficult to compare current Saints players who you can take on face value of performance, stats, etc. with players who were playing at the beginning of the Mora regime or the beginning of the "modern" era of Saints football.

The players from the late 80's and early 90's, with a few exceptions, were so much better then the players who came before them that, of course, I think fans remembrance and perceptions of them are enhanced.

 

[TheDeparted]

I say Bush in on every play (in at various positions all over the field including the backfield), rotate Bell and Thomas. Rotate Bush out occasionally if gassed after a long or tough play.

 

[Flipx99]

The post I referred to said Hilliard and Mayes had a great chance of gaining 100 yards any game, which isn't close to being true.

I didn't intend to put down Hilliard, only to show he didn't produce any better than Bush has, yet he's regarded as a better runner. I think I know the answer why.......colors they wore before they were Saints.

Hilliard did have a Pro Bowl under his belt.