Mark Ingram’s failure in fourth quarter takes on new story with injury news
By Josh Wilson
Mark Ingram was chastised by Saints fans for failing to put his body on the line for an extra yard. We’ve now learned that he did just that.
Mark Ingram was criticized by New Orleans Saints fans for not pushing his way for an extra yard with six minutes left in the fourth quarter on Monday night. The yard would have given the Saints a new set of downs instead of a 3rd-and-1.
The Saints threw an incomplete pass on 3rd-and-1 and punted the next play.
At the time, the Saints were up 16-3, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers stormed back to win 17-16. It was an implosion of historic proportions, and fans traced back to Ingram’s “soft” play where he wandered out of bounds instead of taking a hit to muscle forward for an extra yard and first down. Ingram, himself, said he felt like he let the team down and took responsibility.
The latest news should have all Saints fans walking that criticism of Ingram back, though.
Saints RB Mark Ingram has a torn MCL, making his fourth-quarter play understandable
Mark Ingram has a torn MCL according to reporters:
#Saints RB Mark Ingram suffered a slight tear of his MCL in the loss to the #Bucs, sources say, knocking him out indefinitely and likely ending his season. He’s out 4-6 weeks, but no surgery. With the regular season only being five more weeks, Ingram is almost certainly done.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 7, 2022
This adds new context to the play and takes even more blame off of Ingram.
Let’s be honest: Ingram should not have been to blame in the first place.
What fans refused to acknowledge even before the injury information is that Ingram gained the Saints seven yards and got them in position for an easy run to get the yard they needed on third down. Was the play he made one with a sense of urgency? Clearly not, but he did what was needed. Nothing more, but also nothing less.
Further, the Saints gave up two touchdowns in the span of just over six minutes after the play. Ingram, an offensive player, simply can’t be blamed for such a defensive implosion.
The Saints had multiple opportunities to get an insurance score on the board, and that falls partially on Ingram, but not entirely.
Beyond all that, now we know Ingram was running out of bounds because he was hurt and probably trying to instinctively protect himself. Despite rushing with a torn MCL, he gained the team seven yards late in the fourth quarter to put them in a position to insure their win.
Ingram didn’t fail. Everyone else did. And Saints fans owe him an apology.
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