re: Mark Ingram averaged 5.1 YPC last season, am I missing something?

This is my honest take...Full disclosure I am an Auburn fan...Not LSU so maybe you think that takes me further down the hate track on Ingram...It doesn't I love the Saints and I really do not give a crap who takes the ball over the goal line. Unlike Ingram..Cue temper tantrum.

With that being said I have never been in love with his style of running.

(1) I think that he runs upright a little too much like his shoulders are always square to the line. I prefer more (Bull) shoulders down going forward.

(2) Ingram is a player that has to see or find the whole instead of anticipating that the hole is there. I understand having vision this goes beyond this. There is a distinct hesitation after he takes the ball to read what he sees and sometimes especially on 3rd and 2 you have to go to the gap where the play is called. Short yardage plays happen fast.

(3) The average is always mentioned. The average is very good.

I have made a point over the last few years to study what the Saints do in certain situations. Yes---Often we will throw on 3rd and 2. Is this a product of Brees wanting a higher comp % or a believe by Payton that a pass is a better short yardage option...You can decide...

I have seen numerous times where I believe that Ingram has gotten the bare minimum out of a play. Maybe it is 1st and 10 and he gets 4 yards could he have lowered the shoulder and perhaps leaned forward for an extra yard...maybe so.

Everyone knows that we run the ball on 2nd and 10 after an incomplete pass...So I will give him that one. Just Payton's lame attempt to get Brees into a more manageable 3rd and 6...Often 3rd and 8.

When looking at the average I like to say lets take out the top 2 runs and lets take out the bottom two runs and see what we have...Nothing special...

His average was 5.1 and I know you can do this with everyone just pointing at average.

Ingram's longest run last year was 75 yards. If you remove that one run his average goes down to 4.74 still pretty good.

He had 2 runs over 40 and 4 runs over 20. So only 4 times in 205 carries did Ingram bust one for longer than 20 yards.

From 2011-2014 he never had a run longer than 35 yards.

I know the one run was 75 the other was at least 40 and two others where at least 20. That is 155 yards on 4 runs...Fantastic if that was in game

Again backing out those 4 biggest runs and I might be off by 20-25 yards depending on the actual yardage on those three carries..the average drops to 4.4 Still a decent NFL average...

I just have to go by the eye test and to me I always feel like Ingram has left some yards on the field. Had the same feeling when Bush constantly went out of bounds.