Mark Ingram, Khiry Robinson, C.J. Spiller Post-Week 7 Fantasy Advice

Once on the brink of doom and gloom, the New Orleans Saints have found some new life.

Ten days removed from knocking off the previously undefeated Atlanta Falcons at home, the Saints went to Lucas Oil Stadium and beat Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts 27-21 on Sunday.

Drew Brees had a fair day, throwing for 255 yards and a touchdown, but the New Orleans running game, led by Mark Ingram, paved the way for the Saints to win for the third time in four games.

Here's an in-depth look at the Saints ground attack from a fantasy perspective.

Mark Ingram

Carries	Yards	Touchdowns	YPC	Points
14	143	1	10.2	20

Brees can do only so much throwing the football. But when Ingram is hitting the open lanes like he did Sunday, the Saints become the team we have known them to be.

Ingram ran for a season-high 143 yards on only 14 carries and added a touchdown to lead the Saints with 20 fantasy points, per ESPN.com's fantasy scoring system. He broke runs of 17, 20, 35 and 44 yards during his big day on the ground.

Fantasy owners had every right to feel good after Ingram ran for two touchdowns against the Falcons, but he amassed only 2.3 yards per carry in the matchup. The two touchdowns were good, but Ingram needed a complete game, and he put that together against a porous Indianapolis defense. 

ESPN.com's Mike Triplett noted how big Ingram's day was:

The Saints are on a high and back to playing confident football. To sustain that success, Ingram needs to keep putting up numbers like this. The next three weeks will provide great opportunities to do so against the New York Giants, Tennessee Titans and Washington Redskins. All three teams rank in the bottom third of the league in run defense.

Keep Ingram in your lineups.

Khiry Robinson

Carries	Yards	Touchdowns	YPC	Points
14	28	2	2	14

In Week 6, Ingram was not getting enough yards but was scoring touchdowns. That distinction belonged to Khiry Robinson on Sunday.

Robinson had a season-high 14 carries but ran for only 28 yards. The good news, though, is that he ran for two touchdowns. The bad news is that it wasn't enough to justify a spot on a fantasy football roster.

R Brent Smith/Associated Press

With the addition of C.J. Spiller, Robinson has been forgotten in the backfield and hasn't produced. He's been a reliable goal-line option, which is good for fantasy owners, but Ingram is the lead back.

Robinson may not see the field often, but he comes with a buyer-beware label. If he's starting, the touchdowns better be coming.

C.J. Spiller

Rushing Yards	Catches	Receiving Yards	Touchdowns	Points
16	6	32	0	4

Spiller's role within head coach Sean Payton's offense is to function as a Darren Sproles-type player who catches passes out of the backfield.

Spiller has averaged under four yards per carry in the last four games while carrying the ball only 12 times. Catching the ball, however, has been a different story. Spiller had six grabs for 32 yards Sunday and has caught 10 passes in the last two games.

Since that five-catch, 99-yard performance against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 4, though, Spiller hasn't had many yards at all. He's getting his chances but hasn't made the most of them.

Despite that, Spiller's big-play ability can still scare defenses, as NFL Network's Brian Billick noted:

For fantasy owners, though, the threat isn't good enough. Spiller needs to rack up more yards and be a reliable target for Brees. If there's a better option on the waiver wire, owners should consider dropping Spiller.