--- Advertisement ---

Saints-McAllister
10/02/08 - 05:01 PM
 RSS Feed
click for larger image

METAIRIE, La. (AP) - Defensive end Charles Grant said he could
envision naming a son after Deuce McAllister.
Fullback Mike Karney called McAllister “the people’s champ.”
At Saints headquarters this week, it was clear that fans in the
Louisiana Superdome, who howled “Deeuuce!” every time McAllister
ran the ball, weren’t the only ones energized by the performance of
the Saints’ all-time rushing leader last Sunday.
“I play for guys like Deuce,” said Karney, who watched last
weekend’s game from the sideline with a sore ankle, but hopes to
return Monday night against Minnesota. “I was chanting his name.
He gets introduced and the crowd just goes crazy.”
McAllister rushed 20 times for 73 yards and a touchdown, and
also had a 10-yard, third-down reception to sustain a scoring drive
during New Orleans’ 31-17 victory over San Francisco. It was his
first real work since coming back from his second major knee
operation in the previous three seasons.
McAllister, who has now rushed for 5,761 career yards and 45
touchdowns in 71 starts, said the runs that pleased him most were
“the ugliest ones, where you have a guy in the backfield and you
have to do something that normally you wouldn’t have to do.”
“It’s the ones that you gain 3 or 4 yards, but it should have
been a tackle for a loss.”
It is that same workhorse approach that may have saved the
29-year-old’s football career from a premature end.
McAllister tore his right anterior cruciate ligament in 2005 and
his left ACL in Week 3 of last season. He also had microfracture
surgery on his right knee last year, a procedure in which holes are
drilled into bone in order to regenerate soft tissue that mimics
the padding effect of cartilage in the joint.
Having rushed for 1,057 yards and 10 touchdowns after his first
knee reconstruction, McAllister expressed confidence he could come
back strong from his second.
The Saints were hopeful, but not necessarily convinced. To
appease the franchise, McAllister agreed to change his contract so
he’d be paid less if he was unable to play regularly.
He carried the ball only twice during the Saints’ first three
games, when coach Sean Payton said he was trying to be cautious
with McAllister’s comeback. However, the Saints lost two of their
first three games partly because of failures on designed
short-yardage runs - plays on which McAllister had made his living
since taking over for Ricky Williams full-time in 2002, his first
of two consecutive Pro Bowl seasons.
Fans were getting impatient, flooding call-in shows with
complaints. Payton said he understood why fans would be emotional
about McAllister, whose popularity extends beyond football. A
native of nearby Mississippi and a former Ole Miss star, he has
long endeared himself to the region’s residents with his charitable
causes, his leadership in the business community and his easygoing,
approachable manner off the field.
Payton also sought to assure fans that he, too, was a big fan of
McAllister and eventually would work the running back into the game
plan.
Last Sunday, when it came time to introduce the starting
lineups, Payton made sure the Saints’ offense was announced, and
that McAllister was the last one to emerge from the tunnel.
The crowd loved it.
“It was pretty much flattering, just the fans’ response,”
McAllister said. “But my immediate concern and focus was just
trying to win a ballgame, so not getting overly excited and not
doing anything out of the ordinary.”
On his first carry, McAllister said he was too eager and didn’t
allow his blocks to set up properly. He plunged into the pile for
what looked like a minimal gain, but ended up moving the pile for a
gain of 5.
Later, McAllister scored his first touchdown by diving over the
pile, then drilled a no-frills spike off the turf.
“There was a lot of relief in (the spike), just because I
hadn’t been there in so long,” McAllister said.
It was his first touchdown since a playoff victory over
Philadelphia on Jan. 13, 2007.
“The touchdown was great and everything, him getting over the
pile like Walter Payton,” Karney said. “But that play where he
had a 2-yard gain and turned it into like a 6-yard gain, that rugby
scrum - that’s when I was like, ‘Oh, he’s back. He’s ready to go.’
Because that’s impressive. I mean, two knee injuries and he’s
carrying a pile like that.”

This entry has been viewed 125 times.

User Comments
KALB.com requires that you be a registered site member to post comments and content.
Why Register?
First, we are not being sneaky and gathering your email or other information to sell to telemarketers or e-mail spam companies.

Registration on this site is required simply to allow us to keep people who would post discriminatory, threatening and harassing messages and comments from doing it again.

By having user registration, we hope to provide you with a better user experience. Please view kalb.com's full Terms & Conditions