or that’s not what I meant. Deuce has the Saints’ records because he managed to stay longer, and stay healthier longer (2 knee injuries notwithstanding). If Ricky Williams had stayed longer, and kept his head on straight, we wouldn’t be talking about Deuce at all. If Rueben Mayes hadn’t been injured, or if George Rogers hadn’t been traded, then Deuce would probably be further from a couple records.

I love Deuce. I especially love Deuce since his first knee injury, because since then he’s been getting it done on pure, 100-octane will. He’s exactly the type of player that you build a team around, and it boggles me that Payton doesn’t make use of his leadership more.

is always the best.

I find I haven’t been expressing myself well, because actually I agree with you. For whatever reason, those other gentlemen didn’t do it; and Deuce did. Through adversity of every kind, he managed to battle through and become the Saints record-holder in virtually every meaningful category (here’s hoping he gets another one Monday), and win the everlasting affection and respect of every Saints fan.

But honestly, regarding what I said earlier: you could say virtually the same thing about any running back situation. If Walter Payton had blown out his knee in his rookie year, he’d be the answer to a trivia question. If Lawrence Phillips had hit his head on the concrete coming out of a club hard enough to knock some sense into it, he might be a sure-fire Hall of Famer, instead of a felon (and a particularly stupid one at that). Along with all the hard work and dedication, there’s a lot of luck at work in the world. Deuce had it; the other Saints backs didn’t. I still retain fond memories of Mayes and Hilliard, of Ernie Wheelwright and Andy Livingstone, of Craig Heyward, of Hokie Gajan, of Ricky Williams even. All of them; they were all Black and Gold.

But Deuce is The Man. Like you said, he might have been better. Who knows…maybe he was actually unluckier than any of them, and could have been the next Emmitt Smif. We’ll never know. But he’s still Deuce McAllister, and he doesn’t deserve the shabby treatment he’s been given this year. I said elsewhere: the easiest way for Payton to permanently alienate himself from a significant portion of the Saints’ fan base is to continue treating Deuce the way he’s been doing.