Subscribe
Follow Us
The New Orleans Saints already have one of the most prolific passers in NFL history in Drew Brees. However, their surprising 7-2 success this season has been built more on their improved defense, as well as their incredible running back tandem of Mark Ingram and rookie Alvin Kamara.
On the surface, everyone already realizes how special the two are. If you do a little more digging, though, you find out just how crazy good they are as a pair. According to FiveThirtyEight’s Michael Salfino, the due has a chance to be the best one-two punch in NFL history.
“Through nine weeks, Ingram and Kamara have tallied 1,654 yards from scrimmage (rushing and receiving) and are currently on pace for nearly 3,000 combined yards, with Ingram on pace for 1,536 yards and Kamara for 1,404. To put this production in perspective, consider that there have been only 10 pairs of backfield mates since the 16-game era began in 1978 who each totaled at least 1,200 yards from scrimmage, according to Pro-Football-Reference.com . . . The only backfield pair to top the Saints’ duo’s 16-game pace was Walter Payton (1,875 yards) and Roland Harper (1,332 yards), with a total of 3,207 for the 1978 Bears.”
Ingram and Kamara have complemented one another perfectly this season. While Ingram is the more traditional bell cow who takes the majority of the carries, Kamara has been perfect as a change-of-pace back who has also thrived in the passing game.
The success of those two makes the Saints’ decision to add Adrian Peterson to the backfield mix this season that much more confounding. To their credit, though, they eventually fixed their mistake and have reaped the rewards with a potentially all-time great running game.
