He helped take his team to the NFC Championship game last year and they were a few plays away from going to the Superbowl. He wasn't asked to carry the load as a running back, but he went ahead and lead the team in receptions and was among the top in the entire NFL in receptions. He also had some big punt returns for his team during their run. The guy has proven himself as a legitimate NFL star, now he needs to prove himself as an every down running back. He has his chance now, we will see what happens.
This is just sad. He helped take his team to the NFC Championship? No, 50+ players did that -- many moreso than him. Think Brees, McAllister, Colston, the OL, etc., etc. Hell, by your logic, we could say Rex Grossman took his team to the Super Bowl. (And to be fair, he was probably a more effective and valuable player last year than Reggie.) He had a lot of receptions? It doesn't exactly take a "star" to catch a few passes in the flat coming out of the backfield. Lots of guys can do this. Take a look at this guy, for example. Good player, but is he a franchise changer? Slam dunk No. 1 pick? Star? http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/CentLa00.htm And "some" big punt returns? Try one, when every punt returner in the league could've made the same play -- he had a gigantic wall and didn't have to make a single move. Running in a straight line, wow. I'm impressed. LOL! No one in the world except Stuart Scott and ESPN's marketing executives looks at Bush as a proven legitimate star. He's a running back who caught some dump off passes (see Larry Centers, above) and couldn't get above 3.6 YPC last season in his primary role. This season, he can't even break above 3.0!!! Not only is he not a star -- he's not even mediocre. Right now, he's pitiful. Absolutely pathetic.
Wow Cat. You are delusional. Reggie hasn't been the back to match all the hype, but he hasn't been nearly as bad as you are saying. Come on. I'm pretty new around here. Do you have an agenda or something???
To clarify, when I say "pitiful" and "pathetic," I'm referring to 2007, which I admit is a small sample size right now. In 2006, he was better than that -- though not the star you were claiming, either. Somewhere between the two.
http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blo.../espn/blog/index?entryID=3035901&name=nfl_nfc Bush may not be able to carry load by: Matt Williamson posted: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 Deuce McAllister tore his ACL in the Monday night loss to Tennessee and is done for the season. This is a very costly injury to the already reeling 0-3 Saints, but now the question becomes can New Orleans overcome this? The biggest problem is suddenly the once-potent Saints offense is minus arguably its most important weapon. Last year, when the Saints' offense was rolling, McAllister was the fixture they could count on to do the dirty work and open up the rest of the field for Reggie Bush, Marques Colston and company. McAllister is a tough, powerful runner who is quick to get downhill with his shoulders square to the line of scrimmage. He has the ability to drag tacklers and was the only true physical presence on the Saints' finesse offense. ..... To continue reading this article you must be an Insider. Can anyone with an insider account post the rest of the article?
no one is debating who the better player was; just the notion that williams wasn't among the top prospects in 2006 draft (which i can't ****ing believe we're still talking about....). there were very few teams - if any - that didn't have mario williams ranked among the five best prospcts in that draft and had the texans drafted reggie bush, williams would have been the second pick of the draft. hillboy continues to portray the scenario as if the texans grabbed a secnd round talent with the pick. or even a mid-first round talent, and that simply wasn't the case.
you know what the saints should do? they should sign Ricky Williams when he's available to play again. why not? he'll be cheap, plus you know he can get the tough yards. he was a better back than Ronnie Brown when they split time.
That's true. In fact Bill Parcells said before the Saints - Titans game on Monday that Mario was on the top of his draft board and that there are rarely players with that kind of size, speed, and strength at DE. What's also crazy about Reggie is that his longest run of his career (excluding playoffs and preseason) is 18 yards. You would think that someone whose touchdown distance average during his junior year was around 30 yards would break some longer runs with the amount of carries he has had.
http://cbs.sportsline.com/columns/story/10373639 Bush is fast becoming 21st-century Mandarich Sep. 26, 2007 By Mike Freeman CBSSports.com National Columnist This is who running back Reggie Bush is starting to resemble. He's beginning to look a lot like Mandarich. You remember Mandarich. It was Mandarich who literally fooled the entire NFL industrial complex –- coaches, general managers and the media. Everyone. In the months leading to the 1989 draft, stories of Mandarich's athletic prowess grew to almost legendary status. He was Paul Bunyan Mandarich. He could pancake a defensive lineman with one arm tied behind his back. The legend of Mandarich grew so rapidly and suckered so many people it remains one of the great draft con jobs of all time. What Mandarich did was take a good college career –- he was an All-American player at Michigan State, an Outland finalist and twice was the Big Ten lineman of the year -– added some Guns N' Roses tatts, talked smack about how he could beat up Mike Tyson, acted like he loved the smell of Napalm in the morning and soon enough, people bought the tough guy act. He was right. Sports Illustrated put Mandarich on its cover and actually wondered if he was the best offensive line draft prospect in history. Incredibly, Mandarich was selected by the Green Bay Packers ahead of players like Deion Sanders and Barry Sanders. Mandarich is without question the most overrated draft prospect in the history of sports. And this is where Bush comes in. He's not so far behind Mandarich when it comes to creating a magnanimous image that isn't real. Not so far at all. In fact, as I revise my list of the top 10 most overrated athletes of all time, not just draft selections, but all professional athletes, Bush is quickly advancing towards the top five. My top 10 now goes something like this: 10. Vince Carter –- His terrible shooting makes him one dimensional. 9. Chris Webber –- Average NBA career but grand name recognition. 8. Jose Canseco -– Has had more of an impact on baseball post-career with his mouth than he ever did with his bat. 7. John Daly –- Could easily be top three. 6. Bo Jackson –- Both overrated and underrated. Overrated because his career was so short; underrated because he is one of the best athletes sports has ever witnessed. 5. Reggie Bush –- This from former Denver offensive lineman and current analyst Mark Schlereth: "You look at Reggie Bush. Reggie Bush doesn't know how to run between the tackles right now. He's a guy that's an edge runner. He's a guy that right now is not fulfilling his part of this offense." 4. Joe Namath –- 220 interceptions, one championship and a lot of horrible seasons. 3. Michael Vick –- Good player but career shortened due to stupidity. 2. Mike Tyson -- Devastating puncher and one trick fighter. 1. David Beckham –- No one, but no one, comes even close. (A quick top 10 most underrated ever: Marion Motley, Artis Gilmore, Justine Henin, Bo Jackson, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Olympic star Rafer Johnson, Donovan McNabb (maybe the most under-appreciated player in NFL history), Don Hutson, Jim Rice, and Lenny Moore.) The problem with Bush is that his impact on a game is extremely minimal as compared to the media hype and endorsement frenzy. I may be sick of seeing Peyton Manning's mug on television more than Larry King's but Manning is one of the top five most pivotal players in football. Defensive coordinators have told me this season that Bush may be seen as a superstar to the general public but he is not someone who keeps them awake at night. They say he's not as fast as he looks, can be covered by a linebacker one-on-one and gets shy around contact. That last description is not exactly what you want to hear about your franchise runner. Now we will get to see just how good Bush is and if he is worth the hype. With the loss of the Saints' real running back, Deuce McAllister, to a torn knee ligament, the team will rely heavily on Bush. I can tell you everyone in football is watching what happens next not with the Saints but with Bush. If Bush is so good, as his P.R. machine wants everyone to believe, he'll use McAllister's absence to prove me and his critics wrong and take the Saints on his back. But I don't think Bush will prove anyone wrong because Bush has pulled a Mandarich on the Saints and the NFL by bamboozling many normally smart guys who should know better. His USC hype and Denzel looks overpowered the Saints' common sense. Now, they're paying the price for utilizing such a high pick on a guy who is basically Dave Meggett. Do you remember how people were actually comparing Bush to Gayle Sayers? Bush = Gayle Sayers. That's just insane in the membrane. Bill Parcells called Bush a "satellite player." (Leave it to Bill "Gandolfini" Parcells to come up with some smart-ass Jersey lexicon.) Parcells went on to explain the phrase satellite player by stating Bush plays in space. Great. Now Bush is Reggie Sputnik. The coming days and months will get interesting for Bush and the Saints. He was last year's golden dude but this season he is receiving much more scrutiny and even criticism. Bush in 2006 enjoyed a post-Katrina boost from the league, the media and fans with all three overlooking Bush's on-field shortcomings because of his charitable contributions and the team's special circumstances. Now that the Saints are 0-3 and their best player is gone for the year, that once-present glow has thinned and reality has hit. And the reality is that Bush is not so far off from being the 21st century version of Mandarich, the greatest draft huckster ever. So good luck with Bush, New Orleans. Is it too late for the Saints to draft a running back?
that's a terrible list above. carter and webber, while not jordan and moses malone, still had extremely productive careers as legit All-Star players. bush is looking like he will be average at best.
I didn't agree with that one either. He has won two majors. Granted, he hasn't won a major recently, but I would say Sergio Garcia is much more overrated than John Daly.
You don't have to be a bust to be overrated. While I'm not sure I agree with the writer's list, it's certainly possible to be an All-Star or even a deserving Hall-of-Famer and be overrated to some degree, as all the ratings are relative. For example, if one says, "Craig Biggio is a lock for the hall of fame, one of the premier 2b of his generation," I agree. But if one would say, "Craig Biggio is one of the greatest 2b in MLB history," that's a tad overrated. He might be top ten, but there are guys in a tier above Bidge (as much as I love him and all)--Collins, Morgan, Lajoie, and Hornsby come to mind. Perhaps Robinson, but his career was so short due to the late start.
If you agree that Biggio is a top ten second baseman in major league history, then it is completely accurate to say that "Biggio is one of the greatest 2B in MLB history".
yeah, i dont agree with that. webb was pretty dang good in his prime, its a shame most of his prime was wasted on bad teams
I know i'm going to get bashed by what say, but oh well. I'm a titans an 1st and Texans fan 2nd and i'm was and still is happy with both selections. As a texans fan, the only guy i wanted besides Mario was vince. As a Titans fan if they didn't get vince, i wanted the Mario. Bush never entered the equation for either team for me. Reason being is that in the nfl you can't afford to have 2 high draft picks to tie up a lot of money to do 1 job. I think the saints ill figure this out soon eough. The had duece, who i thought was a 1400yd back, but was forced t give regie a role. He didn't alter opposing defense like they thought he would. He basically caught flare passs which is what most running backs do. Mario while playin with a bad foot impacted the team defense. I thought he was on pace to get about 8 sacks, but the injury cost him. Everey team slid protection to him every play which cant be measured in sacks, but for the last 13games the texans was the 10th ranked defense. Vince made the titans much better also. The lb spy really opened up the holes for henry. Not to mention the the confidence the team had in him late during games. Everyone knocked him, but he's progressing like McNabb did his first few years. Bush if he doesn't step up with duece being out, will be called what he is which is eric Metcalf. thats not a bad thing, it is what it is. I don't know if mario will be reggie white, but i'll settle for Strahan,Haley,or even dent.