Advocate staff photo by ELIOT KAMENITZ–New Orleans Saints running back Mark Ingram (22) makes a first down in the third quarter as he fends off San Francisco 49ers strong safety Antoine Bethea (41) at a NFL game in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, La. Sunday, Nov. 9, 2014. The Saints lost in overtime 27-24.
Saints running back Mark Ingram rushed for more than 100 yards for the third straight game Sunday. However, unlike the two previous times he accomplished that, it wasn’t enough for New Orleans to win.
Ingram became the first Saints player since 2003 to rush for at least 100 yards in three straight games during New Orleans’ 27-24 overtime defeat at home to San Francisco. The fourth-year pro turned 27 carries against the 49ers into 120 yards, 85 of which he produced after the Saints were facing a 21-10 halftime deficit.
All of that was of little pleasure for Ingram given his team’s loss, however.
“I was just doing my job of going out there and running hard,” said Ingram, one of the Saints’ first-round draft choices in 2011. “I just tried to make plays to help us win.
“We fought hard. We came back from 11 down. We played a great second half. We just made some mistakes that cost us.”
Among the mistakes was the Saints’ permitting a 51-yard reception on fourth-and-10 with fewer than two minutes to go in regulation. New Orleans was up by three at that point, and the reception set up a game-tying field goal that sent things into overtime.
San Francisco then recovered a fumble by Saints quarterback Drew Brees to set up the game-winning field goal in overtime. It was the third turnover for Brees, who also threw three interceptions; and it sealed the Saints’ first loss at home with Sean Payton coaching them since the end of the 2010 season, a streak of 20 total games.
“We have to finish,” said Ingram, a member of an offense that punted and lost the ball on its two drives in overtime. “A lot of these games come down to the last minute of the game. We fought hard today. It was back and forth. You have to give them credit. They played strong and made a couple of more plays than we did.”
Also deserving of credit is Ingram, who rushed 81 times for 392 yards and three touchdowns in New Orleans’ last three games, all of which fellow running backs Khiry Robinson and Pierre Thomas have missed injured. Among those outings he delivered career-bests in rushing yards (172 in a win at home over Green Bay) and carries (30 at a victory in Carolina), and he captured a FedEx Ground Player of the Week award.
Ingram had only rushed for more than 100 yards a single time prior to this season, which is the final one on the rookie contract he accepted from the Saints. By the end of Sunday, he had done something no Saint had done since running back Deuce McAllister rushed for 100 yards in nine straight games 11 seasons ago.
The Saints may have lost despite Ingram’s productive day. Yet the running back again bolstered his portfolio as the 2015 free agency period inched ever closer.