Can't-miss Saints storyline: Ingram trying to hold off future Hall of Famer Peterson

Despite three consecutive 7-9 outings, the New Orleans Saints have rarely had any problems moving the ball, twice in those three years fielding the NFL's best overall offense, and once finishing No. 2 overall.

That consistent success is the inevitable consequence of having an all-world gunslinger in Drew Brees under center. But a few steps behind the quarterback resides an unsettled and intriguing question: who's running the football for this team?

Normally, this would be a local matter confined just to Saints fans, or maybe a few NFC South rivals looking for a punchline. But the addition of Adrian Peterson to the rotation this offseason raises the magnitude considerably.

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Peterson is 32 years old and last season suffered a torn meniscus in his knee that ended his year after just three games, putting him under a surgeon's knife. But in seven of his last 10 seasons, Peterson rushed for over 1,000 yards, six times over 1,200, and once over 2,000.

Ingram has been running the ball in New Orleans, in one capacity or another, for the last six seasons following a Heisman Trophy-winning career at Alabama, once surpassing the 1,000-yard mark, last year in his finest performance yet. He also averaged a career-high 5.1 yards per carry, and added more than 300 yards receiving, while scrambling for six touchdowns in football's best offense.

All that production came after an career stymied early by injuries and relatively low yardage. Now he finds himself in direct competition with a Hall of Famer.

Thus far in practices this offseason, Peterson and Ingram have shared the important reps more or less equally, with one taking the first snaps one day and the other getting his chance the next. Nothing the team has said or done has indicated that they prefer one or the other as starter.

SportsLine projects the pair to see a relatively equal amount of carries this season, with rookie Alvin Kamara mixing in an average of five touches per game:

*Fantasy points

The list of pro running backs who have dominated their position past the age of 30 is predictably short, but one name does stick out, and is often brought up by those who seek to imitate him: Curtis Martin, who at 31 won the rushing title with 1,697 yards for the New York Jets in 2004. Since that historic campaign, aging backs have had an excuse to prolong their careers.

Peterson thinks he can add his name to that list.

"It's knowing what I was able to do on the field before I got injured, knowing that the meniscus was completely healed, I tore 90 percent of it, and it was no longer a factor," Peterson told Sports Illustrated's MMQB. "And then it was getting into my regimen -- nothing had changed. I was still explosive, fast, working with all the young guys, I didn't have no doubt at all."

Neither does his coach.

"There are some things I've seen him do that are rare," Sean Payton said. "Regardless of how talented anyone is, at some point it fades or diminishes. I don't think it's happened for him yet. I really don't. And that's exciting. I think he's physically capable of giving us a very, very high, elite-level performance. I feel that way. It's a little different with this player than the norm with age."

In order to make sure both Peterson and Ingram get what they have coming, the Saints will have to strike some kind of balance. That's not something they're good at.

Brees put the ball in the air on 63 percent of the team's plays and handed off on just 37 percent in 2016. Only twice in the last 11 years have the Saints run the ball on over 40 percent of their plays, in 2006 and 2009. That second time, they ended their season hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.

The last time New Orleans won the NFC South, in the 2011-12 season, they fielded one of football's most evenly-distributed rushing attacks. Darren Sproles led the tandem with 173 attempts, Pierre Thomas followed with 165, and then-rookie Mark Ingram contributed 122 as well. Together, they galloped over opponents for 2,127 yards and 16 touchdowns.

That formula worked: the Saints finished with the NFL's No. 6 rushing offense and a 13-3 record. The following seasons, that mark fell to No. 25, rose to No. 13 in 2014, then fell again, to No. 24, and finished exactly average, No. 16, last season.

The striking thing about the Saints' offense is how little it depends on personalities and how much it does on producers. If you can move the ball, you'll get it. Payton runs perhaps the purest meritocracy in the league. Therein lies the answer of who, between Peterson and Ingram, or both, will get the nod.

That philosophy, combined with the pressure facing this team after a handful of mediocre seasons, a prolonged absence from the playoffs, and the kind of desperation to find the winning formula that comes with that territory, will determine the answer to the Saints' most interesting question.