he’s not getting a lot of touches…

4 touches in a game for a potential playmaker like bush seems retarded to me.

i also noticed that the two passes he was thrown were ridiculously off target by brees.. i haven’t seen such an inaccurate pass by brees in a long time and the two big ones were thrown in bush’s direction…

i really do hope that bush breaks out in the second half because i think he COULD be very effective if given a steady amount of touches.

that’s in the back of my mind at least. Lets see what happens.

that’s where the hole was and he would’ve gotten the first down. Blame the guy for everything why don’t ya. LOL, “he did cause a holding penalty…” So I guess everytime a RB bust it outside for a run and there’s a hold, it’s his fault. From where does this logic emanate?

Ridiculous

And PT could have scored on the play Bush scored on. What’s your point? The best RBs are going to get the most playing time, regardless of how much they’re getting paid. Don’t worry, the money situation will work itself out at the end of the year, one way or another. Isn’t that what you’ve been preaching all along? That it’s not about the money? Don’t go all hypocritical on me now, boy.

I sure hope I don’t have to wait too much longer. I’ve got the Mayan Long Count calendar breathing down my neck over here.

4 touches in a game is horrible. but then again, meachem had 2 touches and 47 yards…haha

I’ve got a better idea. Let’s look at the high and low season averages for ALL of our RBs and WRs, both rushing AND receiving, including this season:

YPC high:
Meachem 20.0 (2008)
Evans 16.0 (2005)
Henderson 13.9 (2009)
Roby 8.0 (2005)
Thomas 5.8 (2009)
Hamilton 4.8 (2009)
Bell 4.4 (2009)
Bush 3.8 (2008)
Moore 3.5 (2007)
Eckel 3.3 (2008)
Colston N/A

Our first stop is yards per carry. It’s a pretty straight forward statistic, but it CAN be skewed, based on number of touches. Obviously, no one is suggesting that Meachem or Henderson be given starting roles as RBs, just because their YPC averages are off the charts. They’re both ridiculously fast and the occasional reverse takes defenders by surprise. They’re also both very seldom used as ball carriers. The same can be said of Evans and Hamilton, although they are both technically RBs themselves. Both Thomas and Bell are having career years, though. As in, right now. In fact, they’re having better years than Bush has EVER had running the ball. Which brings up a fairly valid question: YTF would Payton want to bench either one of these guys, in order to give Bush more carries?

YPC low:
Bell 0.5 (2007)
Evans 2.1 (2008)
Eckel 2.7 (2007)
Roby 3.0 (2006)
Moore 3.5 (2007)
Bush 3.6 (2006)
Thomas 4.8 (2008)
Hamilton 4.8 (2009)
Henderson 7.0 (2006)
Meachem 10.0 (2009)
Colston N/A

Here’s the inverse of that. The FEWEST yards per carry each of these players have carried through an entire season. Bell’s is a bit of an anomaly, as he only carried the ball 6 times in 2007. His lowest besides that is 3.2 (2008), which is still pretty damn low. In his defense, he’s playing remarkably well now, AND he had averaged over 4.0 prior to those lulls (4.3 in 2006), proving that he IS at least capable of being a productive NFL RB. Neither can be said of Bush. Please note that Bush’s all-time HIGH ypc average is lower than Pierre’s all-time LOW ypc average. Further, your argument that Bush doesn’t get enough carries to prove his worth is quickly met by Lynell Hamilton’s current 4.8 ypc average — again higher than Bush’s all-time high — on consinderably FEWER carries than Bush has EVER been afforded. Question #2: if a lack of opportunity is affecting Bush’s average, then why isn’t it affecting Hamilton’s? It’s also important to realize that in Thomas, Bell and Hamilton, we’re talking about UNDRAFTED running backs regularly outperforming the best that #2 overall pick in the NFL Draft has to offer.

YPR high:
Meachem 24.8 (2009)
Henderson 24.8 (2008)
Evans 19.7 (2008)
Colston 16.2 (2008)
Bell 14.0 (2008)
Roby 14.0 (2006)
Moore 11.7 (2008)
Thomas 9.2 (2008)
Bush 8.5 (2008)
Eckel 6.0 (2007)
Hamilton N/A

Next is yards per reception. This is supposed to be Bush’s bread and butter, at least among RBs. Unfortunately, three RBs (including Evans), have bettered Bush’s best ever numbers … all in the same season, in fact. I won’t go so far as to say Bush is completely worthless in this department, as 8.5 IS a decent average for a third down back. Again though, who are we supposed to be sitting to get him more involved in the game than that? We already HAVE a rotation of two backs that can handle that role better. Even if you play him strictly as a WR, what has he shown that makes you think he can outperform the low WR (Moore) on the totem pole? Moore catches practically everything thrown in his direction. Bush has a fumbling problem, DESPITE seldom touching the football. Lynell Hamilton has never caught a ball in his NFL career. If you’re going to go the leap of faith route REGARDLESS, why not use him as the four touch per game, occasional 3rd down receiver out of the backfield and save a buttload of money in the process? He’s no less qualified for that role than Bush is as a 5th full time, running routes down the field WR.

YPR lows:
Evans 4.9 (2006)
Bush 5.7 (2007)
Eckel 6.0 (2007)
Bell 7.0 (2007)
Henderson 7.0 (2006)
Thomas 8.1 (2009)
Moore 9.4 (2007)
Colston 12.3 (2007)
Roby 13.8 (2005)
Meachem 24.1 (2008)
Hamilton N/A

Here are the career lows in yards per reception. At least Reggie’s career high isn’t lower than Bell and Thomas’s career low in this particular category. There’s something positive he can include on his NFL resume. Despite that, practically every skilled position player on the team has done better at their worst, than Bush has done at his, when it comes to gaining yards through the air.

The bottom line? Reggie may not be a completely “broken” toy, but he’s most certainly a misfit one. There simply is no place for him in today’s New Orleans Saints offense. Sure, he can be GIVEN playing time — by the grace of the same visored fellow who seems to be phasing him out — but to what extent is it merited? Bush is a living, breathing example of the old cliche “jack of all trades, master of none”.

If Guido Merkens is all he’s ever going to amount to, I think we should atttempt to trade him in the offseason. To Houston for James Casey seems to make a lot of sense. The Texans are unhappy with Steve Slaton. They just lost Owen Daniels for the season, but he’ll be back next year and they’re reported going with Joel Dreeseen in the interim. For all intents and purposes, Casey will be back to being buried on the depth chart, just like Bush. Unlike Bush, he plays FB and TE, two positions where the Saints could use youthful depth at anyway. His H-back versatility would still lend itself well to Payton’s creativity on offense and he could surely help on short yardage conversions. Just a suggestion. With contracts up in February, there are a number of directions the Saints could go, in order to improve on either side of the ball. I’m just not sure what kind of a market there’s going to be for a fading college star, a half decade removed come that time.

If he’s not getting “say 15 touches or more” over the course of any one entire season in his career, my guess is because he hasn’t done anything to earn that sort of workload.

Bush 10.3
Bell 9.1
Thomas 7.6
Hamilton 2.5

Still don’t think Bush is getting enough carries?