Saints Nation: Running Back Health in 2011 Represents Major Change

Going into Monday night’s game, the Saints faced the tough decision of making a healthy Chris Ivory inactive because they had too many good, capable and healthy backs on their roster. That’s a good problem to have, a problem the Saints never had the luxury of last season. What a shift in position from a just a year ago. Many people have compared the 2011 version of the Saints as eerily similar to the 2010 team, but I contend that the team’s current health at running back bodes well and puts the team in a much better position as they attack the colder months of the season this year.

Consider in 2010 the Saints had the following backs on their roster miss the following games due to injury:

So the Saints used a combination of 6 backs (counting Hamilton who missed the entire season but would have made the team) and they collectively missed 44 games.

Here’s how 2011  stacks up so far:

Let’s knock on wood here because there are 5 games left, but the point is the Saints from a health perspective have avoided major injuries at the running back position. To this point in the season they’ve only used 4 backs (instead of 6), and their top three backs have been available for all but 2 of the first 11 games this season. Compare that to last year, where the Saints only had their top three backs available twice all season.

How big of a difference has running back health made? The Saints have already rushed for 1,380 yards this season at 4.8 yards per carry. Last year, the Saints took 16 games to get to 1,519 rushing at 4.0 yards per carry. The Saints will need to rush for 140 yards over their next 5 games, an average of 28 yards per game, to eclipse last year’s yardage total. I’d say it’s made a pretty big difference.

Most importantly I think this puts the team in a much better position as they tackle this stretch run and approach the playoffs. Ultimately, while the defense laid an egg in Seattle, the Saints were down to Julius Jones and Heath Evans as a receiving back in that game. In bad weather they could not run the football. Being able to pound Thomas, Ingram and Ivory if necessary this time around will be of premium value.