Saints Thomas, Ivory Playing Status An Enigma Wrapped In A Riddle

The streak of bad luck that has plagued the Saints running back group this season continues as running back Pierre Thomas has found his way back onto the injury list with a bum ankle once more.

Thomas had not appeared on the injury report at all this week until Friday when he was listed as being a limited participant in team activities.

Reading into his sudden arrival on the report it’s assumed that his aggravation of his ankle injury happened while he was practicing Friday morning and was not a result of anything that happened during the Falcons game Monday.

Head coach Sean Payton is notorious when it comes to not giving the full disclosure regarding player injury believing he has a firm competitive advantage when keeping opposing teams guessing of just whom they should game plan against.

The reality is that while Thomas’ ankle injury certainly happened you have to question what the actual severity of it is and if Payton is just playing the game to keep  Tampa Bay confused.

Thomas is currently listed as questionable for tomorrow’s game which gives him a 50% chance of playing “officially”. He also did not participate in practice today.

Likely his availability, or not, will game come game time tomorrow.

Rookie phenom Chris Ivory has been limited in practice for the last two weeks while nursing a sore hamstring suffered after a stellar rushing performance against the Rams win week 14.

Ivory has traveled with the team to both the last two contests, Baltimore and Atlanta, but has been a scratch both times after participating in pre-game warm ups only to suffer tightness in the fickle hamstring.

He currently is listed as probable on the injury report and has practiced in full this week. That means he has a 25% chance of not playing tomorrow, although there is no guarantee he actually will.

New Orleans surely wants Ivory on the field considering Thomas’ designation of questionable/game time/out and that he rushed for a career high 158 yards againts Tampa Bay during their last meeting.

This we know for certain that someone will be running the ball for the Saints tomorrow.

Check out Keith Null’s weekly article about the Saints on NFL.com by clicking here.

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