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Something happened on Sunday that has never happened before: Alvin Kamara played an NFL game without catching a single pass, including the playoffs. The New Orleans Saints running back has been a prolific receiver through the first four seasons of his pro career, averaging 5.7 receptions per game while setting records and earning Pro Bowl nods year after year.
So it’s more than a little odd that it took this long for a team to hold him without a catch. He’s come close before, catching just one pass in four different games, but he’s always managed to make a contribution in the passing game.
Ironically, Kamara’s biggest assist as a receiver against the Atlanta Falcons may have been the pass he dropped to set up a Wil Lutz field goal. The Falcons defense read the designed screen to Kamara perfectly, and a flock of defenders had already converged on him when Taysom Hill lobbed the ball his way. Instead of catching it on 3rd-and-13 for a likely loss of yards, Kamara dropped the ball instead for an incomplete pass.
Sure, Lutz botched the 53-yard field goal try anyway, but you have to like his chances of nailing a kick from that distance rather than from 56 or 57 yards (if not more). Kamara gets a ton of credit from his teammates and coaches for the intelligence he uses to thrive on the field, but this decision may have been another example of his high football I.Q. — just, in a different sense.
What’s interesting is that Hill connected with six different receivers in his first start, though Kamara wasn’t one of them. That suggests an entire dimension of the Saints playbook is waiting to be accessed, when Kamara can become as valuable a run-after-catch threat for Hill as he’s been for Drew Brees. The Saints seemed to pointedly funnel touches to Michael Thomas in his first 100-yard receiving game against Atlanta, so maybe the big Kamara game is coming while Hill holds down the fort for Brees.
And there is another silver lining here: Kamara checked off one feat he hadn’t accomplished yet with his first career touchdown scored against Atlanta, a 3-yard sprint into the end zone. He had previously faced the dirty birds in six different games, totaling 96 combined touches as a runner and receiver for 563 yards of offense, but that first touchdown had always eluded him. Here’s hoping it’s the first of many more.
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