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New Orleans Saints FB Zach Line happy to toil in obscurity

By Herbie Teope
Around The NFL Writer

METAIRIE, La. -- Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara have anchored the New Orleans Saints' backfield the past two seasons as one of the NFL's top rushing tandems -- and they both made the Pro Bowl after the 2017 campaign.

New Orleans' offensive line, widely regarded as one of the league's best units, deserves a lot of credit for opening holes for Ingram and Kamara -- and left tackle Terron Armstead and center Max Unger made the Pro Bowl after the 2018 season.

Meanwhile, one of the players who makes it all go is flying under the radar -- and he's perfectly OK with that.

"If those guys are doing well, that means I'm doing my job," fullback Zach Line said recently, ahead of the Saints' Divisional Round showdown with the Eagles. "When I go in, I want to make sure we have a productive play, because we're not going to call 21 (two running backs, one tight end) or 22 personnel (two running backs, two tight ends), which is what I'm in, if we're not having productive runs, whenever the play is called.

"There's a little bit of an ego sense to the fullback position, because if you can make a big block -- people hear the crack -- that's one of those you're kind of setting the tempo or you're creating a spark for the offense. I feel like sometimes if you make a big block to clear a running back, people see that."

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Have to admire Zach for what he has accomplished but also have to be concerned about the position he plays and all the hits he takes/gives. I just hope he has a long and healthy life after football and will always remember him as one of the really good running backs I got to watch at SMU.

This is going to sound racist, but so be it. Zach would be considered one of the all time SMU RB greats if he was not white. Not sure what else the guy could have done to be placed in that category. Tied for all time rushing touchdowns, second behind Dickerson in career yards. He was a helluva running back.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMU_Musta ... rs#Rushing

ponyboy wrote:This is going to sound racist, but so be it. Zach would be considered one of the all time SMU RB greats if he was not white. Not sure what else the guy could have done to be placed in that category. Tied for all time rushing touchdowns, second behind Dickerson in career yards. He was a helluva running back.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMU_Musta ... rs#Rushing

I agree. If not for these 3 black guys (Doke, Kyle Rote, Craig James) he would definitely be in the Top 5.

48 is one of my all-time favorite Mustangs in any sport.

Congratulations to him, Banjo, LeRibeus, Wood and Morstead for advancing to the NFC championship game.

PonyLaw90 wrote:

ponyboy wrote:This is going to sound racist, but so be it. Zach would be considered one of the all time SMU RB greats if he was not white. Not sure what else the guy could have done to be placed in that category. Tied for all time rushing touchdowns, second behind Dickerson in career yards. He was a helluva running back.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMU_Musta ... rs#Rushing

I agree. If not for these 3 black guys (Doke, Kyle Rote, Craig James) he would definitely be in the Top 5.

Touché

In the second half, Line put a world of hurt on the LB and the running back went for 35 to 40 yards. The announcers showed the replay of Zack just blowing the LB up and a hole I could run through. And I'm not speedy.

ZL does a great job.
My stance on All time Running Backs at SMU.
If we were National Champions or Rose bowl winners - ZL would be on that list.

Serious philosophical question. Should we discount the fact that Line is tied for all time rushing touchdowns at SMU and second behind Dickerson in career yards? One response is that the other SMU greats were playing against a higher level of competition in the SWC. I get that. But those players had SWC offensive lines to run behind. While he'd never have seen much time during the Dickerjames years, I think Zach would have been a big contributor for us in the SWC.

Weren't SMU and Hawaii the only ones who offered ZL? And didn't he sign as a linebacker prospect (or am I mixing him up with someone else)? Talk about a guy who made the most of an opportunity.

ponyboy wrote:Serious philosophical question. Should we discount the fact that Line is tied for all time rushing touchdowns at SMU and second behind Dickerson in career yards? One response is that the other SMU greats were playing against a higher level of competition in the SWC. I get that. But those players had SWC offensive lines to run behind. While he'd never have seen much time during the Dickerjames years, I think Zach would have been a big contributor for us in the SWC.

I think he would have, too. IIRC, the schedules during his years (2009-13) were fairly heavy on what are now P5 teams in the nonconference schedule, plus Navy and others like them. It'd be pretty easy to see what Zach's production was in those games, if anyone wanted to invest the effort. Personally, I don't recall it as if he were a non-factor there and then piled up 300 yards against CUSA also-rans.

Zach rushed for 120 yards in the 2011 SMU-TCU game.

I was bored...I could only find 19 of the 20 career games with 100yd+. Zach is basically 2nd behind ED in most categories. As you can see his rushing is pretty well team/record agnostic.

2010:
Army 7-6
East Carolina 6-7
Houston 5-7
Marshall 5-7
Tulane 4-8
UAB 4-8

2011:
A&M 7-6
Memphis 2-10
Navy 5-7
Southern Miss 12-2
TCU 11-2
Tulane 2-11
Tulsa 8-5
UTEP 5-7

2012:
A&M 11-2
Baylor 8-5
Houston 5-7
Memphis 4-8
Tulane 2-10