For Kamara, mostly, all it takes is the opportunity. From there, he'll do the rest.

Prior to Kamara's first training camp, Saints running backs coach Joel Thomas said the one thing that had to be discovered was Kamara's willingness, or lack of, to put his face in the "briar patch." The answer is clear.

He'll stick his face in, and more often than not, emerge with a minor scrape or two. Nothing, though, that prevents him from emerging on the other side, with the scoreboard having added points or down-and-distance in the Saints' favor.

"I think that's a strength of his, and I would say the same relative to third-and-1," Saints Coach Sean Payton said. "He understands how to finish a run, and he's also real good relative to transition and quartering the defense, if you will – move them, and then cut up, slow down (and) speed up, then cut up. He's very gifted that way.

"There's some traits that you see on college film. It's hard to project 100 percent of the time. Some of the traits that were more revealing with him were relative to the passing game. But you knew he was athletic, and you knew he was very smooth relative to how he runs. You saw the balance. He just didn't have the body of work."

Now, the resume becomes more impressive by the game.

Kamara needs 27 receiving yards against Eagles to become the fourth player in NFL history to have 500 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards in each of his first two seasons. The others are Edgerrin James (Indianapolis, 1999 and 2000), Herschel Walker (Dallas Cowboys, 1986 and '87) and Abner Haynes (Dallas Texans, 1960 and '61).

But the ability to score is special.

He scored 24 touchdowns in as many games at Tennessee, and 48 touchdowns in his final two years at Norcross (Ga.) High.

"It's something that's generally not developed," Payton said. "Don't get me wrong when I say that, but there's a natural ability to that. (Hall of Famer Marshall) Faulk had it when I coached him (at San Diego State).