Which McAllister will show up this Sunday?
The New Orleans Saints sounded the alarm Sunday. After their 27-20 victory against the Kansas City Chiefs, many Saints players were quick to announce that, after roughly two months of waiting, the Deuce is finally loose.
“We just need to keep doing it,” Saints tackle Wayne Gandy said of unleashing running back Deuce McAllister. “We get Deuce going early and you see what can happen.”
Though getting McAllister going has been pretty much a season-long problem for the 4-5 Saints, the fourth-year running back still remains the top priority for the Denver Broncos’ defense in the Louisiana Superdome on Sunday.
“We always want to stop the run,” Broncos linebacker Al Wilson said. “You do that and you can dictate a little bit. You make them pass because they have to move the ball.
“You can’t let those big backs (like McAllister) move the chains on you. Man, that’s just a long day.”
Some of the Broncos’ fortunes might rest on which McAllister rumbles out of the tunnel Sunday.
There is the McAllister who NFL personnel executives say has looked tentative and without his usual quickness since Sept. 19, when he suffered a partially torn ligament in his right ankle after being tackled by Bryant Young of the San Francisco 49ers.
The injury kept McAllister out of two games and most of a third. As a result, the player who recorded nine consecutive 100-yard rushing games in 2003 on his way to 1,641 yards has managed only two 100-yard games this season and ranks 12th in the NFC with 470 rushing yards.
“But he looked fine against us,” Chiefs defensive end Eric Hicks said. “He didn’t look like he had any problems.”
Ah, yes. There also is the McAllister who, facing an array of blitzes designed to stop him, sprinted through and around the Chiefs for 127 yards on 16 low-impact carries – a 7.9 yards-per-carry average.
It was McAllister’s best game of the season and included his longest run of the season, a 28-yarder. He has scored six touchdowns in his past four games.
“I thought he ran extremely well,” Saints coach Jim Haslett said. “That was the No. 1 thing (the Chiefs) wanted to do was take away our running back.”
“I had a fair game,” McAllister said. “Obviously, any time you can get a win, you’ll take it any way you can get it.”
Still, Saints coaches were concerned enough about McAllister’s performance in the first half of the season that, during the team’s bye week Oct. 31, Haslett had his video staff make a collection of McAllister’s highlight runs from last season to compare with some of his work this season.
McAllister was showed both videos to raise the point he has not been hitting the hole as quickly or breaking as many tackles.
There also was some concern that, during the missed time, McAllister had added a little weight and was up to just under 240 pounds instead of the 232 he has played at for much of his career.
“But I’m still working,” McAllister said. “I’m still grinding; it’s not the perfect game that I’m looking for yet.”
The win Sunday did offer the Saints a glimmer, though. It was the first time since Nov. 23 last season the New Orleans offense produced a 100-yard rusher and 100-yard receiver in the same game.
With the Chiefs repeatedly sending extra rushers into the middle of the Saints’ offensive line to slow McAllister, Joe Horn enjoyed plenty of single coverage down the field. He responded with three receptions of at least 40 yards on his way to 167 total.
“Joe had a lot of one-on-one matchups and (Saints quarterback) Aaron (Brooks) did a great job getting him the ball,” Haslett said.
“That’s what happens when a team runs it,” Denver’s Wilson said. “Then, all of a sudden, they can use the play-action and you have to respect that. That gives the quarterback that little bit extra time to get something done.”
Overall, the Saints’ four wins have come against defenses currently ranked 19th or worse, including three wins (St. Louis, Oakland and Kansas City) against defenses ranked 24th or worse.
The Broncos rank third, but after spending a brief period as the league’s top-ranked run defense, they now are eighth. And two of the Broncos’ three losses have been against teams that had a 100-yard rusher – Cincinnati’s Rudi Johnson and Atlanta’s Michael Vick.
“We know when we haven’t had some success it’s because we’ve allowed too many rushing yards,” Broncos defensive tackle Luther Elliss said. “We know that starts up front, too. We can’t let a back control a game on us.”
Running hot and cold:
Saints running back Deuce McAllister has had mixed results so far in his recovery from a right ankle injury:
Date Opponent Carries Yards Per carry Long TDs Result
Sept. 12 Seattle 16 57 3.6 12 0 Lost 21-7
Sept. 19 San Francisco 3 1 0.3 4 0 Won 30-27
Sept. 26 St. Louis DNP – Won 28-25
Oct. 3 Arizona DNP – Lost 34-10
Oct. 10 Tampa Bay 21 102 4.9 16 0 Lost 20-17
Oct. 17 Minnesota 18 78 4.3 14 2 Lost 38-31
Oct. 24 Oakland 24 42 1.8 6 2 Won 31-26
Nov. 7 San Diego 16 63 3.9 10 1 Lost 43-17
Nov. 14 Kansas City 16 127 7.9 18 1 Won 27-20
E-mail Jeff Legwold at legwoldj(at)RockyMountainNews.com.