Hey, here’s a little bit of good news: three key members of the New Orleans Saints offense returned to practice on Sunday, ahead of their prime-time game with the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night. Running backs Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram were spotted at the team’s Metairie practice facility along with All-Pro right tackle Ryan Ramczyk, which would be a huge shot in the arm for a unit that has really struggled without them.
Kamara has missed the last three games managing an MCL strain, the same knee injury that slowed down his 2019 campaign. The Saints have gone 0-3 without him and were outscored by a combined 94-56, so getting their best player back in the fold would be huge.
Ingram was held out of last week’s game with the Buffalo Bills on Thanksgiving after experiencing knee swelling in the days after their road matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles. The quick turnaround convinced the Saints to ease off of their trade deadline acquisition so that he could rest up before getting back on the field.
As for Ramczyk: the standout blocker has also been dealing with a knee injury that’s kept him out of the last two contests, with veteran backup James Hurst doing a capable job filling in for him. But there’s no replacing Ramczyk at that spot which explains why the Saints signed him to a lucrative contract extension just before the season started.
Unfortunately, the Saints were without a few injured players who have also missed time. The list of absentees on Sunday included defensive ends Marcus Davenport and Tanoh Kpassagnon, backup guard Caleb Benenoch, and linebacker Kaden Elliss. Because teams are not required to publish an official injury report until Monday, we won’t know until then to what degree everyone participated in practice and whether they have a shot at playing against Dallas on Thursday night. Check back for updates.