The New Orleans Saints have been enjoying a career-high year from Mark Ingram. The running back continues to do his part in the offense, taking advantage of being in a contract season with the team and injuries to both Pierre Thomas and Khiry Robinson. However, with the two running backs returning to the lineup healthy, can Ingram keep up his momentum built in the last three games for the Saints?
Ingram notched his third-straight 100-yard game as the Saints fell to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 10. With Thomas and Robinson out for the past three games, Ingram has made up for their absence with 100-yard performances, stabilizing the Saints' offense as best he can. In the past three games, he has put up 392 yards on 81 carries, averaging 4.84 yards per carry. However, can he put up those numbers with Thomas and Robinson both back and healthy?
"It'll all handle itself," head coach Sean Payton said, via Nola.com. "That'll work itself out. I've said before, it's important to have numbers at (running back) and this is a good case in point for that. I love the way he's playing. He's running hard. He's physical. He's been durable. I like what we're getting from him. He's prepared for this opportunity and he's doing a good job with it."
Payton intends to continue to give Ingram the majority of the carries in the ground game. Thomas is more of a Darren Sproles-like back and will return to taking a lot of passes out of the backfield. However, the chance that Ingram returns to getting consecutive 100-yard games is slim considering the Saints will aim to keep him healthy and split the workload again. Payton believes a rotation better benefits the team in the long run.
"I can lose my rhythm as a play-caller. We can all lose our rhythm," Payton said. "But we try to go into each game with a plan. Sometimes that plan involves multiple players...I'm anxious, we're anxous to get other guys healthy and we'll approach each game like we normally would. We'll be smart and try to come up with the best plan that gives us a chance to win."
Ingram is currently fighting for a new contract whether that is with the Saints or elsewhere in 2015. The running back has clearly been treating this year as an audition and as certainly performed to the level that he needs to in order to earn a strong extension with a team. Will the Saints opt to bring him back or move on with Thomas and Robinson for the future?
