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Camp Body
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Hello all. I thought I would wait until after the first two weeks of the season to offer my observations of the team. Part of the thinking there was that the Saints were expected to defeat the Lions and did so with relative ease for the most part. Thus, to talk about how great they played against the Lions would have only been stating the obvious.
Today's game, however, was not against a team many expected us to beat. To be certain, there were a lot of us who thought we had a good chance to defeat the Eagles even if Donovan McNabb had played in the game. But for the most part, most individuals did not see this as a game we could win. So, I thought it would be a good chance to gauge where we are at as a team.
First, I want to start off with the enigma that has been Reggie Bush. It is quite clear that he did not have a good first week. His rushing performance was anaemic at best and the fumbles were disconcerting. Fortunately, the one fumble that the Lions were not able to recover did not hurt us as that might have changed the complexity of the game early on. Darren Sharper was able to get the interception and prevent the Lions from getting a score right before the half, and a chance to go into the locker with some momentum and confidence building. Still Reggie has to know that he cannot put the ball on the carpet, and expect that the defense will always be able to bail us out. The same rule applies to any player on the team who turns the ball over. For instance, I was very disappointed with Mike Bell's turnover despite his great rushing performance. When you are trying to put a team away, there's nothing worse than a turnover, especially one that leads to points by the defense. But back to Reggie. He just could not get it going last week. It is clear that all the time off during the preseason left him rusty, and it was understandable that we went with the hot hand in Bell. In fact, it made sense though I was pleased to see Payton give Reggie a few touches toward the end of the game. After a dismal performance, Payton's gesture allows for two things: first, it gives Reggie some confidence that Payton still believes in him even after his struggles. Secondly, it allows Reggie to get more playing time in a real game so that he can get his rhythm and timing up to speed.
Despite Reggie's poor individual performance, he still had an impact on the game. Reggie's a player who often makes the invisible play. We saw it more this week when he showed signs of improvements. But even last week, we saw him make quite a few invisible plays that enabled the offense to be successful. Reggie went out on the first drive last week, and caught the 26 yard pass. From that play on, it forced the Lions to play the safety in tight, which eliminated the Lions from playing a two-deep zone. This allowed the Saints to make more use of vertical routes, and it even allowed Shockey to get some one-on-one looks that he was not able to get this week against Philly. On the long pass to Meachem, Bush leaked out into the left flat pulling both a backer and a safety with him. That left Meachem down the field in one-on-one coverage against the backup CB for the Lions. Easy 6. On the play with Henderson scored, Bush ran a curl route underneath. When Brees had to step up, the logical conclusion by the defense was that he would check it down to Bush even though Bush had already drawn two Lions defenders with him. This caused the safety playing over the top to hesitate. Brees was able to step up and make the throw deep in between coverage. If the safety gets over in time rather than hesitate, believing the ball is going to Bush, then perhaps he would have been able to make a play on the ball or at least prevent Henderson from making the long catch and run. That's impact from Bush that led points on the board for us.
Same thing this week. Before I address the invisible plays this week, I want to address a few others things. I have seen some of the criticism today of Bush and some of the calls for him to be benched. While his play, at times, has left some things to be desired, I do not think he needs to be benched. Don't get me wrong, I think the criticism, in part, is deserved. But I believe some of it is overstated and lacks the proper context. Certainly, his running continues to be an exercise in futility. I did see him run the ball better today. However, he still has a tendency to want to take every play outside. He has made every effort to cut down on the decision to juke before necessary. I have watched him the last two weeks, and I have only seen one definite instance of him using the wasted motion that comes with juking before reaching the line of scrimmage. When you have 17 carries, and only one pre-jukalation (neologism?), then I think that's improvement. At the same time, he has not quite understood that trying to bust everything outside rather than take what the defense, or offensive line has given to him, is not wise. It might work a few times. But it mainly works for guys who do not rely on it much every game. Not the case for Bush whose propensity to break outside is expected fully by the defense who seems to just lie in wait for him. My wife had an interesting analogy today about Bush's tendency to break everything outside. She said that he forgets he is no longer at USC, and cannot do the same things he did then. That's pretty obvious. She then said that he's like a former athlete who has gained a lot of weight and has trouble losing it. Before, he or she could maintain pretty large diets and had no problem losing weight or keeping pounds off. But now that he or she is no longer into the same routines h/she was in then, he/she has to switch up his/her approach if he/she really wants to see the weight fall off. But in his/her mind, it is quite difficult to escape the belief that the weight should continue to do the same it did when he/she had better metabolism and a daily workout regimen that enable solid weight maintenance. Bush has not learned this. Every now and then, he shows signs of getting it. But he honestly still has trouble with not taking the tough 3 yards.
That said, all is not lost with Bush. And all is not his fault. I certainly thought he looked better when we went to more traditional sets with him, and ran him behind Evans. It sort of slowed him down a bit (in terms of his thinking or over-thinking a play) while allowing him to ironically hit the hole with more speed. The touchdown run is a great example. As soon as he took the handoff, and Evans was able to clear the first defender away, Bush took one cut and hit it up inside. I thought that was encouraging. It'll be critical to make sure that he gets more carries where he is in the I-formation and is able to follow the FB especially with the possibility that Bell will be out and Bush and Thomas having to possibly shoulder the load in his absence.
I also think it is critical that we find ways to get him the ball running the football without it costing carries to more reliable backs on the roster. Right now, our most reliable guy is Bell and I believe when healthy he deserves the opportunities he gets. At the same time, Bush has to get a certain rhythm of carries. When you have 7 carries spread out over 4 quarters, it is difficult for you to find a rhythm or for the line to be in sink with you. Today when he ran back-to-back, he scored. I do not want overstate the case here. It is not to say that he'll turn into some big production runner. But in order for him to maybe learn not to do some of the negative things he does when running--like always looking to break it outside--then you have to get him some touches. It's a difficult position. I like that Payton does not seem to be forcing the ball to Bush contrary to some belief around here. And I like that he has given Bell carries. But every running back has to find a certain rhythm. If you are going to give him 8 to 10 carries a game, try to get some of those carries going in one series to allow him to get used to running the ball. Otherwise, I think he will continue to try to bust a big play when given his few opportunities to carry the ball. This has always been true since Reggie has gotten here, and I think it is counterproductive. To be sure, Reggie's role should be as a compliment to Bell or another runner, and as a guy who gets 15 to 20 touches running, receiving and via the return game. But you have to be a little more judicious about how you chart his carries so that at least he's effective when running the football and not hurting the defense. One last thought here. At the end of the game, Reggie had 3 carries that took his average down from basically 5 yards to a little over 3 yards a carry. But if you look at those three carries, he at least hit it up inside even though the Eagles had 9 men in the box. It may have ended up accounting for -1 yards, but that -1 does not tell the story of what he did. He prevented the safety despite being hit in the backfield, and he took only what he was given there. Nothing more, nothing less.
My thoughts on his play on special teams. I know a lot of people are disappointed with his occasional decisions to run back and lose yardage on punt returns. Again, criticism well-deserved. I think, however, this is a clear case where you have to take the good with the bad. Reggie's going to have the occasional -5 or -10 yard loss. He's also going to have the occasional punt return for a touchdown. I DO think it is imperative that he stops losing yardage for us. Even if he is trying to scamper around and make something happen, he has to be mindful of field position. Field position can make all the difference in a game as we even saw somewhat today. So, he has to hit it up in there. If nothing is there, don't make it worse for the team and force the offense to have to dig us out of a hole. That said, Reggie is who he is. He's a gamebreaker but he's also that guy who will make you want to kick the seat in front of you at games or the television at home. A part of that sort of anger has to be tempered. The guy is trying to make plays, and has proven that he can make them. The same type of punt return that he had against the Eagles today, cutting across the field only to lose yardage has also been the same type of plays where he has scored on against teams like Minnesota, Tampa and Washington. It's the good with the bad. But you certainly do not bench him, especially when he impacts the game so much as a return specialist. This is a perfect segue into my final discussion on Bush, and, again, the invisible plays he made out there today.
Now, to some of those invisible plays this week. As much as Bush has not been able to get it going yet on punt returns, he continues to impact the game. We saw it last week and we saw it TWICE today. Rocca had two shanks today. These shanks were the result of trying to directional kick the ball to avoid kicking it Bush. Instead, each time, Rocca hit it off the side of his foot, and shanked the ball. The result were the Saints starting each drive at their own 47 and 48 yard line, respectively. On both drives, we scored points. As bad as the returns looked by Bush, teams still fear him. I do not know if you get the same shanks by Rocca if he's kicking to Lance Moore or even Rod Harper. Bush also did a fantastic job of helping to to pick up the blitz. Bush has taken a lot of heat for his struggles at pass-blocking. Well, there were several times today when he was able to get a great chip on the backer or corner coming on the blitz, which allowed Brees to make a play down the field. Those blitz pickups won't earn him any yards on the stat sheet. But they led to huge chunks of yards for us, and kept Brees clean for the most part today. Finally, Bush was effective as a decoy. There were against several times where he ran a route underneath, which drew attention and allowed us to get a big play down the field or pickup a key first down. There was one play in particular where we faked it to Bush and came back across the field to Henderson for a first down on a 3rd and 11 play. That kept a drive alive after a penalty had put us into a top spot.
So what's my grade on Bush? It's incomplete. He has to play better. No question. But I have seen some improvement. I do think last week's performance was more of rust than anything. At the same time, he did have an impact on the game, which says that he is contributing to our success even when he's not having the best individual performance. I do not think he should be our bellcow runner until he can prove he deserves the carries. At the same time, we have to do a better job of putting him into a position to be successful. Certainly, when other backs are doing well, it makes it harder to make any case for or defense of Bush. But we have to make sure that the few runs he gets mean something. It'll be interesting to see how much he carries the ball if Bell is out next week. I would expect his carries to pick up if that is the case even if Pierre gets more touches. Hence, it will be of major importance that he is more effective running the football. All that said, he looked much better out there today. He was up around 5 yards a carry and also had that nice catch and run that put us into position to break a 10-10 tie going into the half. With two games of real game speed, I expect Bush to play his best game thus far of the season. At the very least, I expect more improvement from him.
Rest of my analysis of the team to be continued in this thread since this post was already so long.
Today's game, however, was not against a team many expected us to beat. To be certain, there were a lot of us who thought we had a good chance to defeat the Eagles even if Donovan McNabb had played in the game. But for the most part, most individuals did not see this as a game we could win. So, I thought it would be a good chance to gauge where we are at as a team.
First, I want to start off with the enigma that has been Reggie Bush. It is quite clear that he did not have a good first week. His rushing performance was anaemic at best and the fumbles were disconcerting. Fortunately, the one fumble that the Lions were not able to recover did not hurt us as that might have changed the complexity of the game early on. Darren Sharper was able to get the interception and prevent the Lions from getting a score right before the half, and a chance to go into the locker with some momentum and confidence building. Still Reggie has to know that he cannot put the ball on the carpet, and expect that the defense will always be able to bail us out. The same rule applies to any player on the team who turns the ball over. For instance, I was very disappointed with Mike Bell's turnover despite his great rushing performance. When you are trying to put a team away, there's nothing worse than a turnover, especially one that leads to points by the defense. But back to Reggie. He just could not get it going last week. It is clear that all the time off during the preseason left him rusty, and it was understandable that we went with the hot hand in Bell. In fact, it made sense though I was pleased to see Payton give Reggie a few touches toward the end of the game. After a dismal performance, Payton's gesture allows for two things: first, it gives Reggie some confidence that Payton still believes in him even after his struggles. Secondly, it allows Reggie to get more playing time in a real game so that he can get his rhythm and timing up to speed.
Despite Reggie's poor individual performance, he still had an impact on the game. Reggie's a player who often makes the invisible play. We saw it more this week when he showed signs of improvements. But even last week, we saw him make quite a few invisible plays that enabled the offense to be successful. Reggie went out on the first drive last week, and caught the 26 yard pass. From that play on, it forced the Lions to play the safety in tight, which eliminated the Lions from playing a two-deep zone. This allowed the Saints to make more use of vertical routes, and it even allowed Shockey to get some one-on-one looks that he was not able to get this week against Philly. On the long pass to Meachem, Bush leaked out into the left flat pulling both a backer and a safety with him. That left Meachem down the field in one-on-one coverage against the backup CB for the Lions. Easy 6. On the play with Henderson scored, Bush ran a curl route underneath. When Brees had to step up, the logical conclusion by the defense was that he would check it down to Bush even though Bush had already drawn two Lions defenders with him. This caused the safety playing over the top to hesitate. Brees was able to step up and make the throw deep in between coverage. If the safety gets over in time rather than hesitate, believing the ball is going to Bush, then perhaps he would have been able to make a play on the ball or at least prevent Henderson from making the long catch and run. That's impact from Bush that led points on the board for us.
Same thing this week. Before I address the invisible plays this week, I want to address a few others things. I have seen some of the criticism today of Bush and some of the calls for him to be benched. While his play, at times, has left some things to be desired, I do not think he needs to be benched. Don't get me wrong, I think the criticism, in part, is deserved. But I believe some of it is overstated and lacks the proper context. Certainly, his running continues to be an exercise in futility. I did see him run the ball better today. However, he still has a tendency to want to take every play outside. He has made every effort to cut down on the decision to juke before necessary. I have watched him the last two weeks, and I have only seen one definite instance of him using the wasted motion that comes with juking before reaching the line of scrimmage. When you have 17 carries, and only one pre-jukalation (neologism?), then I think that's improvement. At the same time, he has not quite understood that trying to bust everything outside rather than take what the defense, or offensive line has given to him, is not wise. It might work a few times. But it mainly works for guys who do not rely on it much every game. Not the case for Bush whose propensity to break outside is expected fully by the defense who seems to just lie in wait for him. My wife had an interesting analogy today about Bush's tendency to break everything outside. She said that he forgets he is no longer at USC, and cannot do the same things he did then. That's pretty obvious. She then said that he's like a former athlete who has gained a lot of weight and has trouble losing it. Before, he or she could maintain pretty large diets and had no problem losing weight or keeping pounds off. But now that he or she is no longer into the same routines h/she was in then, he/she has to switch up his/her approach if he/she really wants to see the weight fall off. But in his/her mind, it is quite difficult to escape the belief that the weight should continue to do the same it did when he/she had better metabolism and a daily workout regimen that enable solid weight maintenance. Bush has not learned this. Every now and then, he shows signs of getting it. But he honestly still has trouble with not taking the tough 3 yards.
That said, all is not lost with Bush. And all is not his fault. I certainly thought he looked better when we went to more traditional sets with him, and ran him behind Evans. It sort of slowed him down a bit (in terms of his thinking or over-thinking a play) while allowing him to ironically hit the hole with more speed. The touchdown run is a great example. As soon as he took the handoff, and Evans was able to clear the first defender away, Bush took one cut and hit it up inside. I thought that was encouraging. It'll be critical to make sure that he gets more carries where he is in the I-formation and is able to follow the FB especially with the possibility that Bell will be out and Bush and Thomas having to possibly shoulder the load in his absence.
I also think it is critical that we find ways to get him the ball running the football without it costing carries to more reliable backs on the roster. Right now, our most reliable guy is Bell and I believe when healthy he deserves the opportunities he gets. At the same time, Bush has to get a certain rhythm of carries. When you have 7 carries spread out over 4 quarters, it is difficult for you to find a rhythm or for the line to be in sink with you. Today when he ran back-to-back, he scored. I do not want overstate the case here. It is not to say that he'll turn into some big production runner. But in order for him to maybe learn not to do some of the negative things he does when running--like always looking to break it outside--then you have to get him some touches. It's a difficult position. I like that Payton does not seem to be forcing the ball to Bush contrary to some belief around here. And I like that he has given Bell carries. But every running back has to find a certain rhythm. If you are going to give him 8 to 10 carries a game, try to get some of those carries going in one series to allow him to get used to running the ball. Otherwise, I think he will continue to try to bust a big play when given his few opportunities to carry the ball. This has always been true since Reggie has gotten here, and I think it is counterproductive. To be sure, Reggie's role should be as a compliment to Bell or another runner, and as a guy who gets 15 to 20 touches running, receiving and via the return game. But you have to be a little more judicious about how you chart his carries so that at least he's effective when running the football and not hurting the defense. One last thought here. At the end of the game, Reggie had 3 carries that took his average down from basically 5 yards to a little over 3 yards a carry. But if you look at those three carries, he at least hit it up inside even though the Eagles had 9 men in the box. It may have ended up accounting for -1 yards, but that -1 does not tell the story of what he did. He prevented the safety despite being hit in the backfield, and he took only what he was given there. Nothing more, nothing less.
My thoughts on his play on special teams. I know a lot of people are disappointed with his occasional decisions to run back and lose yardage on punt returns. Again, criticism well-deserved. I think, however, this is a clear case where you have to take the good with the bad. Reggie's going to have the occasional -5 or -10 yard loss. He's also going to have the occasional punt return for a touchdown. I DO think it is imperative that he stops losing yardage for us. Even if he is trying to scamper around and make something happen, he has to be mindful of field position. Field position can make all the difference in a game as we even saw somewhat today. So, he has to hit it up in there. If nothing is there, don't make it worse for the team and force the offense to have to dig us out of a hole. That said, Reggie is who he is. He's a gamebreaker but he's also that guy who will make you want to kick the seat in front of you at games or the television at home. A part of that sort of anger has to be tempered. The guy is trying to make plays, and has proven that he can make them. The same type of punt return that he had against the Eagles today, cutting across the field only to lose yardage has also been the same type of plays where he has scored on against teams like Minnesota, Tampa and Washington. It's the good with the bad. But you certainly do not bench him, especially when he impacts the game so much as a return specialist. This is a perfect segue into my final discussion on Bush, and, again, the invisible plays he made out there today.
Now, to some of those invisible plays this week. As much as Bush has not been able to get it going yet on punt returns, he continues to impact the game. We saw it last week and we saw it TWICE today. Rocca had two shanks today. These shanks were the result of trying to directional kick the ball to avoid kicking it Bush. Instead, each time, Rocca hit it off the side of his foot, and shanked the ball. The result were the Saints starting each drive at their own 47 and 48 yard line, respectively. On both drives, we scored points. As bad as the returns looked by Bush, teams still fear him. I do not know if you get the same shanks by Rocca if he's kicking to Lance Moore or even Rod Harper. Bush also did a fantastic job of helping to to pick up the blitz. Bush has taken a lot of heat for his struggles at pass-blocking. Well, there were several times today when he was able to get a great chip on the backer or corner coming on the blitz, which allowed Brees to make a play down the field. Those blitz pickups won't earn him any yards on the stat sheet. But they led to huge chunks of yards for us, and kept Brees clean for the most part today. Finally, Bush was effective as a decoy. There were against several times where he ran a route underneath, which drew attention and allowed us to get a big play down the field or pickup a key first down. There was one play in particular where we faked it to Bush and came back across the field to Henderson for a first down on a 3rd and 11 play. That kept a drive alive after a penalty had put us into a top spot.
So what's my grade on Bush? It's incomplete. He has to play better. No question. But I have seen some improvement. I do think last week's performance was more of rust than anything. At the same time, he did have an impact on the game, which says that he is contributing to our success even when he's not having the best individual performance. I do not think he should be our bellcow runner until he can prove he deserves the carries. At the same time, we have to do a better job of putting him into a position to be successful. Certainly, when other backs are doing well, it makes it harder to make any case for or defense of Bush. But we have to make sure that the few runs he gets mean something. It'll be interesting to see how much he carries the ball if Bell is out next week. I would expect his carries to pick up if that is the case even if Pierre gets more touches. Hence, it will be of major importance that he is more effective running the football. All that said, he looked much better out there today. He was up around 5 yards a carry and also had that nice catch and run that put us into position to break a 10-10 tie going into the half. With two games of real game speed, I expect Bush to play his best game thus far of the season. At the very least, I expect more improvement from him.
Rest of my analysis of the team to be continued in this thread since this post was already so long.
