Don’t throw out those &uot;Run, Ricky, Run&uot; posters just yet – it looks like the Saints finally have a running back.

It may seem a bit premature to praise young Ricky Williams as the answer to all the Saints’ woes, as he was thought to be when Mike Ditka gave up two years’ worth of draft picks to have him.

Sure, Ricky has had three 100-yard games, but two of them resulted in losses and he fumbled three times against the Eagles. His trouble scoring has carried over from last year, as he has rushed for only one touchdown in five games.

But, believe it or not, Ricky is becoming a premier back in the NFL.

No other back has hit the century mark in three games this season, and a 100-yard game today will make Ricky the first Saints running back ever to achieve 100 yards in four consecutive games.

While neither of these records will assure our dreadlocked friend a spot in Canton, I think we need to be a little more realistic in what we expected from the NCAA’s second-leading all-time rusher.

Obviously Ricky’s high cost in the draft raised our expectations to an unrealistic degree. Has any running back ever done well enough in his rookie year to meet expectations that high? I doubt it.

And remember that Ricky didn’t ask for such expectations. He expected to go in the top three picks, but I don’t think anyone expected Ditka to give up the Saints’ future for one player.

I also don’t think many people considered the seriousness of Ricky’s rookie-season injuries. He was called a crybaby from the start, but he kept trying to play, even though his continued action caused even more injuries.

What we are seeing now is what he might have been last year if he were healthy. I honestly don’t think anyone with as incentive-laden a contract as Ricky would sit a game out unless he had to.

But I think the main reason Ricky is doing better this year is Ditka’s absence. In Ditka’s mind, Ricky was all he needed to get to the Super Bowl. That’s how he drafted, and that’s how he coached.

His game plan could have been beaten by anyone with a defensive line. He did nothing to hide the fact that he was handing the ball off to Ricky for some hard-hitting, smash-mouth football.

Well, Ricky was hit hard, often in the mouth, and usually 4 yards in the backfield. No one could have had success running the ball in last year’s offense.

There was absolutely no threat of a pass, and not just because the Saints had a host of bad quarterbacks. Ditka refused to throw the ball or even change up his offensive formations to make the defense move around. He wanted his guys to block their guys and move the ball slowly down the field.

Not surprisingly, opposing teams found some pretty successful stunts and blitzes that left Ricky a quivering mass 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage.

While Jim Haslett’s West Coast offense has not exactly lit up the scoreboard, it has given Ricky a little running room. And you’ll notice that Ricky is able to slip a few tackles when he gets to take a step or two before meeting a linebacker.

Ricky – like the rest of the Saints – has a long way to go. But he’s showing signs of improvement, and that’s more than we saw last year.

Nick Adams is sports editor at The Democrat. He can be reached at (601) 445-3632, or by e-mail at nick.adams@natchezdemocrat.com.