Ingram and Kamara, Saints dynamic duo, eyeing history

The New Orleans Saints’ dynamic duo of Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara has been gaining attention throughout the NFL. Rightfully so.

The complementary pair of running backs are threatening to join elite company in league history.

Ingram has accumulated 837 yards with eight touchdowns, averaging over five yards per carry, He has been toting the ball about 15 times each contest. If he can maintain his current average of roughly 75 yards per game, he will complete the season with 1,212 rushing yards.

His counterpart, the eye-opening rookie Kamara, has 546 yards rushing with four rushing touchdowns. He averages 7.1 yards per carry. Of course, his overall value to the organization includes his skills as a receiver as well.

Kamara totaled 106 yards rushing against the Bills and had 87 yards on the ground in last week’s loss to the Rams. If he can split the difference between those two performances and average 91 yards per game, he will hit the 1,000 yard mark for the campaign.

Since there are only so many carries in the final five games of the regular season for the Saints, it will not be an easy task to have both reach 1,000 yards on the ground. Yet this is a sampling of the fraternity with which they would belong if Ingram and Kamara pull it off is a special ground indeed.

Here are the all-time single-season NFL running tandems which include many instances of the bruiser and the slasher, not to mention a few Hall of Famers:

1972 Dolphins, Larry Csonka, 1,117 yards, Mercury Morris, 1,000 yards (14 games)
1976 Steelers, Franco Harris, 1,128 yards, Rocky Bleier, 1,036 yards
1985 Browns, Kevin Mack, 1,104 yards, Earnest Byner, 1,002 yards
2006 Falcons, Warrick Dunn, 1,149 yards, Micheal Vick, 1,039 yards
2008 Giants, Brandon Jacobs, 1,089 yards, Derrick Ward, 1,025 yards
2009 Carolina, Jonathan Stewart, 1,133 yards, DeAngelo Williams, 1,117 yards
2006 Jaguars, Fred Taylor, 1,146 yards, Maurice Jones-Drew, 942 yards
1973 Dolphins, Larry Csonka, 1,003 yards, Mercury Morris, 954 yards
1973 Bengals, Essex Johnson, 997 yards, Boobie Clark, 988 yards
1988 Bengals, Ickey Woods, 1,066 yards, James Brooks, 931 yards
1978 Bears, Walter Payton, 1,395 yards, Roland Harper, 992 yards
2004 Falcons, Warrick Dunn, 1,106 yards, Michael Vick, 902 yards

Strangely enough, the duo that Ingram and Kamara resemble the most is not included in the list.

LaDainian Tomlinson and Darren Sproles during their time with the San Diego Chargers shined together but Sproles did most of his damage as a receiver while LT was the workhorse rusher.