With the playoffs looming, the New Orleans Saints need Latavius Murray to shine

The New Orleans Saints must start to establish Latavius Murray in the run game if they want to find extended success this postseason.

As the New Orleans Saints get into the last few games of the regular season, the team has shown us that they can win games in many different ways, but most importantly when the Saints have been able to establish a ground game, they can usually find a way to win.

Last Sundays gut-wrenching 48-46 loss to the San Francisco 49ers left a sour taste in both Saints fans’ mouths, but there was one glaring question that left Saints fans asking themselves: “Where was Latavius Murray ?”

Last week against the San Francisco 49ers, Latavius Murray averaged 9.9 yards per carry, totaling seven carries for 69 yards.

With that kind of yards per carry average during that kind of high-scoring electrifying game, a lengthier commit to establishing the run could have slowed the track meet between the two teams that ended up favoring San Fran.

Since signing with the New Orleans Saints in the spring as a replacement for ex-Saints running back Mark Ingram, Latavius Murray has come into his own and has proven to be a solid contributor in both the running and passing game.

His best game in a New Orleans Saints uniform came versus the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field where we saw him carry the ball 27 times for 119 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught three balls for 31 yards for a total overall production of 150 yards. Superstar running back Alvin Kamara was out.

Then he would follow that game up with another excellent performance against the Arizona Cardinals where we saw Latavius Murray carry the ball 21 times for 102 yards and one touchdown.

He also caught nine balls for 55 yards and a touchdown for a total overall production of 157 yards.

Latavius Murray is a certified “bruiser” running back.

Standing at 6-foot-3 230 pounds, when Latavius Murray gets those pads lowered and running downhill, there’s not one defensive back in the NFL that would take on that challenge and win. Murray is a solid running back that is forced to not play the bulk of snaps.

So far this season, Saints running back Latavius Murray is averaging a solid 4.7 yards per carry off 113 attempts. He also has five touchdowns. Murray has also caught 29 balls for 190 yards and one touchdown with a 6.6-yard average.

We keep hearing the New Orleans Saints players say in the media that they have yet to play their best game, so one could only hope that best game will be a commitment to establishing the run with heavy doses of both Alvin Kamara and Latavius Murray.

The mixture is what will lead the Saints to the Super Bowl, but much of how the combination works will rest of head coach Sean Payton’s shoulders.