Jeff Duncan's 9/18/09 Saints Mailbag (1 Viewer)

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Courtney Roby's role leads today's first installment of the New Orleans Saints mailbag
by Jeff Duncan, The Times-Picayune
Friday September 18, 2009, 10:52 AM


Another round of excellent questions. There were so many queries that I'm going to file another mailbag tomorrow so I can answer them all.

On to today's Q&A:

Q: Where do you see Courtney Roby contributing more on special teams, returning kickoffs or in kick coverage? Robert Meachem did a solid job returning kicks. Do think he'll still get those opportunities or are they now Roby's? Secondly, why doesn't Reggie Bush get a shot returning kickoffs? He did it at USC and clearly, he isn't going to get more than about 5-8 carries a game with the emergence of Bell and Pierre Thomas coming back. Why not give Reggie more ways to contribute? Ernie Ballard, Baton Rouge.

A: Roby and Mike Bell are going to be the primary return men on kickoffs. I thought Meachem looked hesitant on his returns after the nice opening run-back. Roby is more decisive and might have equal top-end speed. The only reason I think the Saints don't use Bush on kickoffs is because they want to keep him healthy for 16 games. There are some violent collisions on kickoffs and the Saints might not want to risk losing Bush to an injury. He doesn't have the biggest frame in the world and takes some violent hits when he's on the field.

More: http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2009/09/_another_round_of_excellent.html
 
How much bigger is Roby's frame than Bush's?? This first person I thought of when reading this post was the beerman!!! He had a huge frame...lol!!! I mean aren't the collisions on punt returns violent also? I just don't buy that Roby is more durable to physical contact than Bush is. If he is that's not saying much for RB. Bush should also have him beat in the vision dept... since most running backs have great vision to play the position. I am getting tired of the worries about RB getting injured. How about we just wrap him in bubble wrap and sit him on the sidelines. He needs to contribute to this team in any way he can right now!
 
How much bigger is Roby's frame than Bush's?? This first person I thought of when reading this post was the beerman!!! He had a huge frame...lol!!! I mean aren't the collisions on punt returns violent also? I just don't buy that Roby is more durable to physical contact than Bush is. If he is that's not saying much for RB. Bush should also have him beat in the vision dept... since most running backs have great vision to play the position. I am getting tired of the worries about RB getting injured. How about we just wrap him in bubble wrap and sit him on the sidelines. He needs to contribute to this team in any way he can right now!

Reggie Bush has returned kickoffs for the Saints, and he's not that good at it. He's a far, far better punt returner.

Roby is the best kickoff return man on the team, and he's light years better than Reggie Bush.
 
Reggie Bush has returned kickoffs for the Saints, and he's not that good at it. He's a far, far better punt returner.

Roby is the best kickoff return man on the team, and he's light years better than Reggie Bush.

Bush has never returned a kick for the Saints.
 
Roby is expendable since his only value is Special teams. Bush is a risk due to his multiple roles on the team.
 
How much bigger is Roby's frame than Bush's?? This first person I thought of when reading this post was the beerman!!! He had a huge frame...lol!!! I mean aren't the collisions on punt returns violent also? I just don't buy that Roby is more durable to physical contact than Bush is. If he is that's not saying much for RB. Bush should also have him beat in the vision dept... since most running backs have great vision to play the position. I am getting tired of the worries about RB getting injured. How about we just wrap him in bubble wrap and sit him on the sidelines. He needs to contribute to this team in any way he can right now!

The point Jeff was making is that they want to keep Reggie healthy for the entire season. Roby doesn't have much of a bigger frame than Reggie, and Jeff didn't mean it to come out as the only reason Roby is returning kicks is because he's bigger. We all know he's not. Roby is more expendable though, and that's why he's allowed to do return kicks. I guess he didn't want to just come out and say it, but that's what the truth of the matter is.
 
Bush has never returned a kick for the Saints.

he's not that good at it. He's a far, far better punt returner.

Roby is the best kickoff return man on the team, and he's light years better than Reggie Bush.

To my knowledge (and a quick glance at ESPN), Bonchie's right, he hasn't...just a few free kicks post-safety I believe (Carolina game maybe?), and a time or two where he tried but didn't get the chance.

Regardless of that, Shawn's right in that Bush is just simply far better at punt returns than kick returns. Bush was an elite punt returner in college, but to be fair he was not an elite kick returner. I don't see what that would change now.
 
I like the first comment on that page, where the guy was frustrated with these Bush questions, he has a totally different role, its Pierre and Bell fighting for there carries, Bush role is set, these other guys play a different role that dont impact Bush's role what so ever...are people in denial?
 
I like the first comment on that page, where the guy was frustrated with these Bush questions, he has a totally different role, its Pierre and Bell fighting for there carries, Bush role is set, these other guys play a different role that dont impact Bush's role what so ever...are people in denial?

haha no kidding
 
Courtney Roby's role leads today's first installment of the New Orleans Saints mailbag
by Jeff Duncan, The Times-Picayune
Friday September 18, 2009, 10:52 AM


Another round of excellent questions. There were so many queries that I'm going to file another mailbag tomorrow so I can answer them all.

On to today's Q&A:

Q: Where do you see Courtney Roby contributing more on special teams, returning kickoffs or in kick coverage? Robert Meachem did a solid job returning kicks. Do think he'll still get those opportunities or are they now Roby's? Secondly, why doesn't Reggie Bush get a shot returning kickoffs? He did it at USC and clearly, he isn't going to get more than about 5-8 carries a game with the emergence of Bell and Pierre Thomas coming back. Why not give Reggie more ways to contribute? Ernie Ballard, Baton Rouge.

A: Roby and Mike Bell are going to be the primary return men on kickoffs. I thought Meachem looked hesitant on his returns after the nice opening run-back. Roby is more decisive and might have equal top-end speed. The only reason I think the Saints don't use Bush on kickoffs is because they want to keep him healthy for 16 games. There are some violent collisions on kickoffs and the Saints might not want to risk losing Bush to an injury. He doesn't have the biggest frame in the world and takes some violent hits when he's on the field.

More: http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2009/09/_another_round_of_excellent.html

Makes ZERO sense. Hesitant? Except for a slip his numbers would be great. They were still good. We need Bell more than Reggie. Why risk him? What's wrong with Harper?
 
Makes ZERO sense. Hesitant? Except for a slip his numbers would be great. They were still good. We need Bell more than Reggie. Why risk him? What's wrong with Harper?

Yes why we are risking Bell getting injured on kickoffs is stupid. The odds of getting hurt or injured or fatigued on kickoffs is far more great than the odds of bringing one back.
 

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