Mark Ingram’s problems remind me of an old Saints game I went to, but then again everything in life is an analogy of some sort. You have to have a point of reference to start from if you plan to go anywhere. But first I have a confession to make Saints fans: I’ve only ever been to one Saints game in my life. Now, before you break out the pitchforks and torches, let me tell you why. My family wasn’t very well off, we lived off of Haynes Blvd, near the Levy. Pebble was the name of the street, just a couple of turns past Bullock. Anyway, my Dad managed to get his hands on some game tickets, so he decided to take me with him to my very first Saints game. What a nightmare. The game was on September 11, 1994 and was between the Redskins and the Saints. Both teams were win-less, and well, after the 1st quarter I knew that the Saints would stay that way.

XMike Wallace, Staff Saints Writer

Mark Ingram could have easily been the ball carrier that day. The game wasn’t as close as the final score would indicate, and in my 9 year old mind I knew the cause. The Saints couldn’t get the running game going. Much talked about was the Saints rookie running back Mario Bates. A second round pick out of Arizona State, Bates was supposed to be the answer at running back and the heir to Dalton Hilliard. Well… that wasn’t quite the case. He never reached his potential you see. He played well for six seasons, but never cracked 1000 yards. In his four years in New Orleans he only started a full season once. So what does any of this have to do with the current Saints? Not much, aside from a player who seems to be taking a similar course in his career. Mark Ingram.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, how is Mark Ingram like Mario Bates? Well, while one was a Heisman trophy winner and the other was Mario Bates, both were much talked about coming out of the draft. Both suffered through injuries early in their careers, and both were terribly misused by the Saints coaches.

Mark Ingram brings a lot to the table. He has power, speed, tackle breaking skills, good vision and is a violent runner when properly motivated. The problem is, he needs to warm up. See Ingram is a lot like that old Chevy you have sitting in the garage. You know he’ll run for you, and do it well, but he just needs to get the juices flowing first. He’ll get you from “point A to point B”, but he might not do it in style. He might need a new tire every now and then, or maybe get his axles looked at, but once the wheels get moving they are hard to stop. You can’t just drive him to the store once a week; you need to wind him out on the highway.

So why is any of this a problem? Five words: “Running Back By Committee System”. You see our coach Sean Payton has a brilliant offensive mind with “chameleon-like” ideas. Sean has decided that a multiple back system is what the Saints will use. While the multiple back system is not new at all, it is indicative of a problem in the backfield. Someone once said (and I’m not sure who) that if you have a running back by committee, you don’t have a running back. I am inclined to agree. The New Orleans Saints have not been a very good team when it comes to running the ball for the past few seasons, and the problem (at least in my eyes) is too many mouths to feed.

Ingram has the potential to be a “Superstar running back”. Lets be honest here: The kid has all the tools you need to succeed in the NFL, and some were calling him the second coming of Emmit Smith. The issue is, Emmit Smith wasn’t splitting carries with three, sometimes four other backs over the course of a season. Smith was the man in Dallas, period. Ingram is more like the third man in New Orleans. Mark rarely gets the chance to carry the ball for a full game, but at the same time, when he does get the ball in key situations, too often he has come up short.

Many times fans have been left grumbling when Mark fell just inches shy of a 1st down or a touchdown, but other times they have been elated by his ability to move the pile, make the cut or dive over the line to get the yards we need. Inconsistency is the watchword for Ingram, and it has proven to be one worth watching.

Mark is gifted, but he is also prone to complacency. He may feel like he has nothing to prove, being a 1st round pick and Heisman winner, or he may just be masking an injury and performing poorly. Maybe he just decided to phone it in for 2012, floating along on a rudderless ship, watching as it sailed farther and farther off course.

Whatever the case may be, 2013 needs to be the year that Mark Ingram makes a name for himself. If not, he may forever be known as just another “kid with limitless potential who couldn’t cash in on it”. The annals of league history is littered with the corpses of those kids. Mark has a chance, working under one of the premier offensive minds in football, to put an indelible stamp on the game of football. He just has to want to.

By the way: That game I went to ended up being a 38 to 24 drumming by the Redskins. Mario Bates had a total of nine yards on four attempts. He went on to miss six weeks with a broken jaw courtesy of Lorenzo Neal. I told my dad something after that game. I predicted “I would be the best running back of all time”, and be drafted number one by the Saints when I grew up. Well, we all can see how that turned out. Hey, Mark, do me a favor and finish what I couldn’t, yeah?

Picture Credit: Pic courtesy of Tom Pumphret via Creative Commons

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