The Saints running backs are doing something unprecedented

The most productive pair of skill players in the entire league right now both reside in New Orleans.

No running back — or really even skill position player -- has played as well over his team's last five games as Mark Ingram or Alvin Kamara. Since about mid-October, they’ve been the league’s two most productive offensive players. They’re also running backs who both play for the same team, the New Orleans Saints. That is preposterous.

Ingram and Kamara each have more yards from scrimmage in that time than just about anyone in the NFL. And the one player that isn’t looking up at them, Le’Veon Bell, did so while scoring just two touchdowns. Compare that to Ingram and Kamara, who've found pay dirt six and five times, respectively, during this span of brilliance.

So in other words, if fantasy output is the best context to convey their excellence, they each have more points in a standard league than any other skill position player over their team’s last five games. If PPR’s your jam, they’re still the top backs, with Antonio Brown the only other skill player period cool enough to sit at their table.

It’s a one-of-a-kind stretch rarer than Halley’s Comet or a Jim Caldwell smile. Of all the many unbelievably dynamic running back duos that have graced backfields since the league’s inception, you won’t find another instance where the NFL’s two most prolific running backs over a period approaching a month-and-a-half (can even take it as far back as the start of October) were on the same damn team.

Shoot, I’m not even sure there’s another multi-week stretch where RB teammates were both in the top 10 in yards from scrimmage, let alone top three. The closest I could find, ironically enough, was also in New Orleans under Sean Payton; a stretch in 2006 when Reggie Bush ranked 8th and Deuce McAllister 11th.

If you think I’m wrong, I’d love for you, dear reader, to point out any other run — of even, say, just 3+ games -- where the NFL’s two best, most productive backs shared the same backfield. Because this fascinates the hell outta me.