[Official] Reggie Bush or Someone else -- Vince Young out of running

USC did put the ball in the hands of their best player. . . Matt Leinart! Why do you automatically assume Bush was the best player that USC had? It's amazing what all the hype has done to people perception. Both defenses allowed a LOT of points. Texas was probably the most surprising since their defense was ranked much higher. I don't think many people blame Bush at all for losing the game. Every player made mistakes here and there that contributed to the lost. Very rarely does one player ever lose the entire game. We (supporters for drafting VY) certainly don't blame Bush; we just question how well his talents will translate to the NFL. We all saw how a fast college defense was able to "limit" Bush, so I wonder how he will do against even faster NFL defenses. 187 yards certainly isn't subpar but did you actually watch the game? Just looking at the stats doesn't really show the trouble that RB had in turning the corner, and how often he went for the corner and wasn't able to get it. Only three significant plays come to mind in which he picked up significant yardage. His one touchdown run up the sideline with the dive into the endzone, the run in which he tried to lateral the ball, and the second to last play of the game with 19 seconds left and UT was playing very deep in a "prevent" defense.

While you're at it throw Randy Moss on that list, I think someone should make a complete list

 

Not sure how to respond to this.

It wasn't like I screamed and threatened to use a razor on myself.

 

Frankly, a little bit...of all the things to glom on to that can describe who you are and to pay respect to your old friends and family, why choose an Area Code? A Zip Code is more personal. The name of your HS has more meaning. This, coupled with his lateral, really reinforces some doubts about his decision making.

 

713 b****es

 

To be honest i think that judging his decision because of an area code and a lateral (on which he was trying to make a play but screwed up) is pretty trivial. He's a good kid and has proven it. Everyone who has come into contact with him can attest to that. Smart kid, good guy, great football player. It's his personal choice, what has more meaning to you or me might not be the same in his case. To me, it's getting blown out of proportion.

 

Jim Jackson did the same thing with 419

 

You're obviously not down with todays pop/urban culture. The whlole showing off your area code has been around for a couple of years. The first time I noticed it was when Ruben Studdard (American Idol) wore his area code on shirts and hats every week. I'm sure it was around before that as well. You're thinking way too much into this.

 

Maybe so, but defining part of yourself by fixating on a random, impersonal number generated by a corporation... that just seems wierd.

 

Area codes are so 90's.

This is the information age. I represent with my IP address. 208 baby!

 

I can't believe you guys are arguing about area codes.

 

I just heard on PTI that Vince Young might have a Reality TV Show on BET.

Would anyone watch? I know I would.

 

I'm sure I would catch it a few times since I am a huge VY fan.

 

This thread is an all time classic. There is no way a sane person could read thru all pages from start to finish without gouging their own eyes out with a #2 pencil.

 

Does anyone remember which thread that "Saw em Off" pic with that dog Reville's paws off instead of the horn? I wanted to show it to a friend but can't find it for the life of me.

 

Why do you automatically assume Leinart is their best player? Bush did win the heisman trophy and he was voted MVP by his own teammates 2 years in a row. I don't see why it's wrong to call him their best player.

And yes i did watch the game, and while Bush didn't have the impact that everyone thought he would, he was still effective. He averaged over 6 yards a carry, which was more than Lendale White and it doesn't even count the run he had with the lateral. Keep in mind he did have over 100 yards on kick off returns as well, putting USC in great field position.

I just find it laughable that people point to a game against the best team in the country where he had almost 200 total yards to warrant not taking him.

 

I thought it was clear who the engine was that made the USC offense go during the second half of the Rose Bowl. Leinart was incredible, and played about as good a half of football as he's ever played in his career. There's a reason why he was a Heisman trophy winner. Bush looked like a nice piece but I think USC without Leinart is sunk. USC without Bush? they'd manage.

 

Forget Bush — Texans should draft Williams
Running backs are routine, while impact DEs can carry teams to Super Bowl

COMMENTARY
By Mike Celizic
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 2:20 a.m. ET April 25, 2006
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12471820/

Mike Celizic

If the Houston Texans want to make their fans do the happy dance on draft day, they'll make the popular pick and take USC's great running back, Reggie Bush. But, if they want to do what's best for a team that has more holes than the alibi for a three-year-old cookie thief, they'll take the man who can anchor their defense for the next dozen or more years, Mario Williams.

We all know who Bush is and what he can do. Winning the Heisman Trophy and being number one on just about every Saturday's highlight reel does that for you. And nothing generates excitement in football like a great running back.

But when you build your team on great running back, you're building on quicksand. No runner taken at the top of the draft has ever taken his team to the Super Bowl, let alone won it. And, when you look back at the college season that was, you may remember that Bush couldn't take his team to a second consecutive BCS championship against Texas.

Defense isn't nearly as exciting as offense, and it's hard for fans on draft day to get cranked up about getting a defensive player with the first pick in the draft. But defense wins championships, and great defensive ends who are big, strong, fast, agile, athletic and genuine difference makers are one of the rarest commodities out there.

Think about it. Think about having someone like Reggie White anchoring your D-line for the next football generation. Think about all the Super Bowl teams and all the great defenders who defined them, from Bob Lilly to Mean Joe Greene to Lawrence Taylor to Ray Lewis to Richard Seymour.

N.C. State’s Mario Williams, the scouts agree, could be that kind of player. He's huge — 6-7 and a Happy Meal short of 300 pounds. He's fast — turns the 40 in less than 4.7 seconds. He's strong — 35 reps at the combine with 225 pounds in the bench press. He's athletic — a 40 1/2-inch vertical jump.

You've probably only really started hearing about him in the past couple of weeks as the draftniks — blinking against the light as they emerge from caves in which they spend the year sorting through thousands of players, pondering Wonderlic scores and conducting mock drafts — start to take over the sports talk shows.

He has 14 1/2 sacks last year for North Carolina State, after which he declared for the draft after three years of college ball. Just about every draft board has him rated at the top of the list of defensive players. More important, according to Dan Patrick on ESPN radio, at least half a dozen NFL teams have Williams at the top of their draft charts, ahead of Bush, ahead of Matt Leinart, ahead of Vince Young, ahead of everyone.

It's a tough call for the Texans. On the one hand, there's Bush, the pick the fans want and a player who can do some electrifying things rushing, catching and returning the ball. Bush is so very, very good, that even I have been sorely tempted to break my first rule of drafting, which is to never throw away the top pick on a running back, and instead go with something more useful and harder to come by.

But a running back’s shelf life is generally short. And if they do survive the pounding of the game, they don't win titles, especially for teams like the Texans who have neglected to assemble an offensive line good enough to be called mediocre. An awful lot of Super Bowl teams have done just fine with running backs picked up further down in the draft.

But few Super Bowl teams have arrived at the big game without a stout defense. (The St. Louis Rams come to mind, but darned few others.)

Right now, MSNBC's draft board has the Saints taking Williams with the second pick in the draft, right after the Texans take Bush. That may or may not occur; Houston has worked out both Bush and Williams. But one thing is certain, the Texans, with the first overall pick, can have him if they want him — and if they have the nerve to make the right pick instead of the popular one.

If they take Williams, the defense is set. Put him at end and fill in with complimentary pieces. They go from a so-so defense to one that makes offensive coordinators tear their their hair out, just like that.

After that, Houston should start collecting offensive linemen, the more the better. If there's a wide-out they think could develop into a top player, toss him in the shopping cart, too. But they have their quarterback, David Carr, and they have Dominick Davis at running back, a perfectly serviceable ball carrier who averages better than four yards a carry and 1,000 a season. He's not Bush, but he doesn't have to be.

They may think they need Bush, but, if he couldn't really bust free against Texas in the Rose Bowl — he did have one big play, but he tried to lateral and turned it over — how's he going to do it against bigger and faster defenses behind a bad offensive line? And what happens if he blows out a knee?

What Houston needs — what every team needs — is somebody who can control the line of scrimmage on defense, somebody who strikes terror into the hearts of opposing quarterbacks, somebody like White, the person Williams is most often compared to, who can dominate the opposing offense.

You can't win if you can't stop the other guys. But if you can stop them, even with a challenged offense, you have a chance.

For illustrations, think back to the Lions during Barry Sanders' days — exciting as all get out to watch, but basically a failure as a team. Then think about last year's Bears — an offensive game plan that consisted of three-play sequences, nearly every one of which was succeeded by a punt, but they through one round of the playoffs on the strength of their defense. Then think about the Super Bowl champion Ravens. Again, they had no offense to speak of, but they won because they had one of the greatest defenses ever to take the field.

New England won its first two Super Bowls without a premier running back. The Giants won their second title with a superannuated O.J. Anderson, who had lost so much speed he couldn't outrun the Lincoln Tunnel, grinding out three and four yards at a time. Much as everyone loves Jerome Bettis, he wasn't exactly O.J. Simpson for the Steelers last year, either.

I've already said that Bush is one of the only running backs I've ever seen worthy of the first pick. That doesn't mean he's the right pick for Houston, though, not when the Texans can have anybody they want. Bush is the best back in the draft and one of the best that's ever come into the league. But Mario Williams is the best player.

He's the man Houston should take, the man a team can build a champion around.

 

I'm not pimping Bush. All I'm saying is that given the choice, most GM's would take Bush over VY.

Most GM's aren't trading up because the price is steep. A good 5-6 GM's in the NFL aren't biting on VY even though it costs them nothing.

 

I hope he doesn't. It will likely come off as cheep and hurt his image.

Just get out and start playing ball. Don't give the haters any more material.