Haha, Seriously though, you make good points. And if he does get the 12-14 carries, we’ll see. Of course I hope for the best and he does go 100+ yds. It really just takes him breaking off a good one. I just don’t believe it’s lack of groove that is holding his production back. But I really would like to see him get those carries and see what he does with it. Because if he stops stuttering and starts hitting the hole harder later in the game, after 8-10 carries, I’ll concede the point.

I’m with you. Heck, I thought it was going to happen vs. Philly, only instead of rushes, it was going to be a combo of rushes/swing passes/check-down passes.

But the truth is, I don’t care how the touches break down, just find something that works and let it play out, and then WHAM! hit the defense with something unexpected, but not crazy/nutso/too clever.

In the big picture, we want a “humming” offense that produces points and wins. It seems to me that we’re still going to pass to set up the run, and then we’ll just hope to be able run enough late in the game to burn some clock and FINISH. I think it’s great that so far the run/pass has been closer to even than it was last year.

First, GO SAINTS!! Second – GO REGGIE!!! Just relax and let it happen, captain!

I agree with your points. I think that if Bush gets into a rhythm and gets a nice number of touches, I think he will be WAY more effective than before. I still like the thunder and lightning approach we had with Deuce in 06 though. As a Trojan, I’m always rooting for Bush to go big every week.

I’ll never bet on Bush having a good or bad week again. He eludes rational prediction better than linebackers. But the non-safety was a positive series in my mind. If they really expected to move that pile, they should have tried Evans, but no way anybody, especially reggie, is going to push a stacked D-line in that situation. And he did escape the endzone, allowing us to remove 40 more seconds from the clock.
With Pierre coming off injury, I do think he’ll get more touches than he has been, which may well lead to him getting a rhythm. My problem with his straight running is his little humpty dance shuffle behind the line. Others just take one slow step, then pick a lane and hit it. He does that little dance like it’s going to make down linemen dive to the turf like safeties in open field. Whatever, he’ll have a better chance if he gets more touches. I still think he needs another guy back there to have a chance at production, but the coaches seem to agree this year. They have plenty of 2 TE and FB/RB sets, which they did less in the past, I think.

And while I agree with you somewhat, I do think Reggie is not a real punishing kind of RB so it helps to have Bell/PT because that aspect of the game often is helpful by the 4th qtr. And although Reggie isn’t known for his blocking, it would appear that aspect is improving and again, and that’s extremely important (the blocking) so that everything will work as planned and you don’t tipoff that if Reggie is in the game, he won’t stay in as a blocker. We need that element of surprise.

But Reggie can wear down defenses by them chasing him. And he is explosive and able to score on any given play.
He makes play action passes more likely to succeed. I’m all for him having a monster game and multiple TDs and all that. But, overall I’m thankful we have Bush, Bell, PT, and Hamilton as well. Group effort is fine with me.

they were biting!

funny thing on Madden I do the same thing with him, I’ll try to go up middle, then say forget it and hop outside…sometimes I take it to the zone other times i get popped and fumble ( he fumbles a lot online).

but I think the truth is you never know when Reggie will have a huge game. It doesn’t matter about the competition as much as other factors such as how many touches he gets, what primary pass receivers are double teamed, where Drew distributes the ball since we have so many weapons, are we scoring quickly or sustaining our drives, whether a receiver like Shockey or Henderson is having a bad day, whether a RB such as PT or Bell are dinged up a little or are having a bad day, and to some degree what the defensive opponents game plan is. Opposing defenses have been keying on Reggie for a few years and they might start to wake up and realize we have so many weapons that it really might not be a good strategy to key on Reggie. To be honest I think opposng DCs are still trying to find the bluprint for us.

I’m like your analysis Phil, you hit that on the nail. There are so many factors to consider in this game…

developing (only 2 games) Reggies’ late TD’s to ice the game. In the Detroit game it got called back for holding, he could have back-peddled in. At the Eagles, same play but to the other side. This week no Mike Bell, hope PT can do the same,or even Hamilton and soften up the D, so Reg can scamper late in the game.Keeping Reggies’ legs fresh in the 4th Q. Payton still tries to run him inside early in the game,when the D has not tired, stubburn or all part of his plan?