Heyward Proves More Than Head Is Iron : Saints: Running back, who weighs about 290 pounds, plows through the Rams for 72 yards and two touchdowns.

When it comes to carrying the bulk of the New Orleans offense, Craig Heyward is certainly built for the job. But Coach Jim Mora has never been inclined to give him that opportunity because he felt the fourth-year running back was too heavy to handle such a heavy load.

Near the end of last season, Mora issued yet another public reprimand concerning Heyward’s inability to trim a few pounds, hinting that he would be both healthier and more effective if he weighed closer to 250 than 300.

Heyward responded by asking reporters, “Who died and made him a physician?”

Heyward, who got the nickname “Ironhead” because of his stubborn nature as a child, had little success with his off-season conditioning program. When the 5-foot-10 running back reported to the Saints’ training camp this summer, he weighed 299 pounds.

But with Dalton Hilliard slowed by a knee injury, Heyward got quite a few chances to throw his weight around Sunday night in the Superdome. And there were a host of Ram defenders scattered in his wake. Heyward gained 72 yards in 17 carries and scored a career-high two touchdowns as the Saints controlled the ball and the game en route to a 24-7 victory.

“ ‘Head was rumblin’ and the Rams were tumblin’ tonight,” Saint safety Bennie Thompson said. “Whooo-eee, boy, the big boy was on a roll.”

And that, as any of a number of Ram defenders will attest, is one scary sight.

“You know,” quarterback Bobby Hebert said, “Craig is a very happy-go-lucky kind of guy. Mentally, well, if he can keep his concentration, he can be a real force.”

Heyward gained 50 yards in the second half, carrying half of the Ram defense on his back for some of those yards and scoring two touchdowns on one-yard “runs” during which he plowed and burrowed his way into the end zone. But he also showed some nifty footwork to dodge tackles and pick up extra yards.

“I put in some extra efforts tonight,” Heyward said. “I just kept my legs grinding and grinding. And then if a little guy comes up, those little guys don’t want to be hitting me high, so I know they’ll come in low and that gives me a chance to make a move and get some more yards.”

Compared to Heyward, the entire Ram defensive unit is made up of “little guys.” He outweighed every one of them by nearly 20 pounds.

Heyward does his best to keep the issue of his weight in the background--he won’t say exactly what he weighs now, but teammates say he’s in the 290-pound range--and at the same time prove to the Saints’ coaching staff that he can be both huge and effective.

“It’s you guys in the media that’s always bringing it up,” he said. “If you look at my family, at the way my mom and my brother are built, you’d see this is normal for me. If you just look at me, you’d probably say I weighed 240 or 250. Then you see me get on a scale and you say, ‘Damn.”’

There probably were a lot of Rams saying that very same thing Sunday night when they saw him get a handoff. At times, Ram defenders looked like they were attempting to stop a runaway steamroller. On one four- yard run to the Ram five-yard line, it took six Rams to wrestle him to the ground.

“I just try to keep my feet moving and stay up,” Heyward said. “Sometimes, if you can do that, they’ll just keep hitting you and sort of Ping-Pong you on down the field.”

In his previous five games against the Rams, Heyward gained only 60 yards in 24 carries. But then the Rams have this habit of serving up career games for back-up Saint running backs. Last year when Hilliard was hurt, Gill Fenerty stepped in and gained 135 yards in 19 carries in two outings against the Rams.

But the Saints had failed to run the ball well in their first two games and the Rams’ defense had been very successful against the rush, so Mora was worried about the Saints’ ground attack going into the game.

“None of us has been happy with the state of the running game, so it was very nice to see us run the ball that way,” he said. “Craig was running very well tonight.”