Bush is the X-Factor

The New Orleans Saints are a puzzling team. How do you get Drew Brees, Reggie Bush, and Jeremy Shockey and still manage to struggle at times. Sure, injuries seem to always be a culprit, but at some point in time fans expect a return on their emotional investment. The fans have flocked to every game at the Superdome waiting to see the offense simply blow teams out. Sometimes Brees and company deliver, but often they do not.

Another suspect in the whole tradition is the defense. Will Smith and Charles Grant at the ends and Jonathan Vilma and Scott Fujita as the linebackers are supposed to improve that giant weakness. Like the offense, sometimes they look good and sometimes they look real bad.

If only the injuries would go away long enough for the offense to play together and if only the defense could figure out why they can never seem to act as a single unit, then the Saints could come marching in and take over the very open NFC South. Instead the NFL season continues and fans wonder why the Saints will not just go out and claim what should be theirs. With weapons like Reggie Bush, Marques Colston (when not injured), and Brees the team should be in the contention for Super Bowl tickets.

Some fans think it would help if Bush was to choose a position, but I disagree. Bush is a receiver/running back. His yards per carry are not impressive, but his short passes basically are runs and he takes those pretty far. He is an oddity in the NFL and that makes him a mystery to every defensive coordinator. He can bounce around the line and throw off defenses.

His lack of a true position may be his best asset. A linebacker can not keep up with him, but a corner cannot tackle him one on one. Saints tickets are just worth it to watch as the middle linebacker points him out in confusion and tries to adjust to his movement to receiver or in the backfield. He really should go to the Pro Bowl every season for the kind of chaos he creates. He gives Brees a short weapon and opens up the long game for a player like Colston to take advantage.

Still his lack of a defined role is something that does not help with a team that has trouble finding consistency. I still do not think trying to force Bush to be a traditional back would work. Rather, it would probably sap whatever potency the offense had.