Alvin Kamara's stats won't jump off the box score against the New York Giants, but it was a good example of what a good day for Kamara can look like in his new role within the New Orleans Saints offense. Replace Kendre Miller with Travis Etienne Jr. and it's exactly how we thought Kamara would be used. He even had some vintage Kamara moments.
Miller ran the ball 20 times, and Kamara had 7 carries, 2 receptions and made good use of those touches. We expected Kamara to play second fiddle and Etienne to be the lead back, so when the latter returns from injury, Kellen Moore has to utilize him like Miller was this past week. This is the type of complimentary play from Kamara that created excitement in the backfield preseason.
This was Kamara's best game of the season, with him even putting a blitz pickup on his highlight tape. One strange thing is Kamara didn't see a touch after the third quarter, his best quarter of action. Change that and we could be looking at a exactly how to use the versatile back.
Alvin Kamara can still be an effective part of the Saints' backfield, despite early lulls
You don't want to overreact to one game when there's four other games of evidence, but there's one thing that was different in this game compared to Kamara's first four games of the season. The running back was given space. That space came in the running game and passing game, and it gave him the room to look like a blast from the past.
There was no better example of vintage Kamara than his first receiving touchdown since 2024. Kamara caught the ball in the right flat, and it looked like the defensive back was going to be able to tackle Kamara or at least knock him out of bounds. Kamara showed the contact balance that made him one of the best running backs in the league early in his career and shrugged the Giant out of bounds.
Still running on the sideline, Kamara cut inside, narrowly avoiding stepping out of bounds, to avoid another defender. He then faked another cut inside to spin around the final defender as he jogged into the end zone.
The jog set everything off because he was still relativly in the mess, but we've seen Kamara do that before. He did it on his long touchdow catch against the Packers on Monday Night Football. The effortlessness and grace of the play from start to finish truly made it look like a clip from 2018.
There were a few runs where Kamara had a burst we hadn't seen this year. The big difference is the space given to Kamara. Even in his hayday, this is where the running back excelled. Running lanes have been tight and quickly disappeared throughout the season.
The lack of room has hurt all the running backs but especially Kamara. He doesn't seem to have the same elusiveness that he once had, though his touchdown reception may challenge that. In the run game, we saw Kamara rip off an 11 and 15 yard run.
There has been acceleration during some of Kamara's runs but it's often halted by a defender. There was no defender these times, and it became clear that when given space, Kamara can still be an effective part of the rushing attack.
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