When Alvin Kamara got back to the sideline after scoring on an 11-yard run in the second half of the Saints 21-16 win against the Atlanta Falcons, Saints coach Sean Payton told him: “You called that play!”
Kamara responded: “Yeah, you damn right.”
That’s because the versatile Saints running back essentially did call the play that gave the Saints a 21-9 lead.
“So at halftime, we were heading towards our locker room and it was just in casual conversation. (Alvin) happened to be next to me walking to the locker room, I said, 'What do you like in the second half?' Just getting his gut,” Payton said. “And we talked about a few different runs and then he said to me, 'I really like that same play that we ran Taysom's keeper, but the run off of it.'
The play, 15 Weak F Keeper, was a designed run for quarterback Taysom Hill that went for a six-yard gain.
“Taysom faked the ball to me, and I saw the hole part with that motion,” Kamara said. “Nobody was really worried about that backside. And I'm like, man, so when Sean asked me what plays I like, I'm like man, let's run in the same motion.
Let's go 15 Weak F instead of the keeper. So he dialed it up at the right time we got back down in that same kind of area and scored.”
Kamara, who leads the NFL in yards after the catch (631) and is third in yards from scrimmage (1,328), said it was a good feeling that his coach trusted his idea although he joked that he knew he would score. He said he also was happy that his idea was validated.
“It's cool for me because it kind of backs up what I see,” he said. “And I'm like, 'Okay, I know I'm not tripping, I see this look.' And then when I tell him and then he calls it and then we score it's like, 'Okay, I've got some money in the bank now, I might be able to call a couple plays in the game.'"