METAIRIE, La. -- Five days ago, New Orleans Saints running back Mark Ingram had just one 100-yard rushing game in his NFL career.

Now he has three.

Ingram ran the ball 30 times for 100 yards in Thursday night's 28-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers -- the most carries ever by a running back in Sean Payton's nine years as New Orleans' coach. That's new territory for Ingram, as well.

Mark Ingram had 30 carries Thursday for the Saints, but coach Sean Payton wants to maintain durability with other backs returning from injury. AP Photo/Chuck Burton

"I've never carried the ball 30 times since high school. I think my most at Alabama was maybe 24 or 27, something like that," said the 2009 Heisman Trophy winner, who has finally gotten the opportunity to showcase himself as the kind of every-down back he was in college.

Asked how he felt on the field after carrying the ball a combined 54 times for 272 yards in five nights, Ingram told CBS that he felt great and wanted to keep running it more.

Now the question looms: Will the Saints keep riding Ingram once fellow backs Khiry Robinson and Pierre Thomas return from injuries?

Chances are, the Saints will return to some form of timeshare -- mainly because those two guys are so talented and were also thriving in their part-time roles before they got hurt.

That's the main reason they've always had a timeshare under Payton in New Orleans -- because the Saints have always been loaded with a wealth of talented backs, from Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush to Thomas, Chris Ivory, Darren Sproles, Ingram and Robinson.

Payton was a little dismissive last week -- maybe even defensive -- when asked about the notion that it would be better to feed one back like Ingram so he could get into a rhythm instead of using a rotation. But when asked again Friday if Ingram has earned the opportunity to play a greater role at the head of the timeshare, Payton seemed open-minded.

"Listen, he certainly is [earning the opportunity]. Yet the key is just the durability. But he's been outstanding," Payton said. "I think that Sunday and then what he did last night, those are a lot of touches. And so we're gonna have to, as we get guys healthy, break those up. And yet to his credit, he's handled that workload. And I think our guys up front, I think it's all kind of come together to some degree.

"Now, it wasn't as clean as you'd hope last night. And yet there were some tough yards and still effective."