Rookie RBs: Is Reggie Bush Vastly Overrated?
| 14
|
by user Drpatriot
After being gone for the whole weekend, I came online to check my regulars: ArmchairGM, Pro Football Talk and ESPN. When looking through ESPN, I noted a headline that says "Reggie Bush dazzles." After clicking the link, the author of the game summary notes a 44-yard run by Bush as a major highlight. I then noticed another stat: Bush: 6 carries, 59 yards.
I admit, I was curious. I checked the drive stats and saw what happened during the game. Here are the play-by-play stats for Reggie Bush during the preseason game, according to ESPN.com:
| Quarter | Down | Result |
| Q1 | 1st and 10 at NO 26 (4:46) | R.Bush left guard to NO 32 for 6 yards (C.Hope, J.Clauss). |
| Q1 | 3rd and 4 at NO 32 (4:07) | R.Bush right end to TEN 24 for 44 yards (L.Thompson). |
| Q1 | 1st and 10 at TEN 24 (3:20) | R.Bush left guard to TEN 22 for 2 yards (C.Hope). |
| Q2 | 1st and 10 at NO 21 (12:18) | R.Bush right end to NO 25 for 4 yards (K.Vanden Bosch). |
| Q2 | 1st and 10 at TEN 11 (10:30) (No Huddle) | R.Bush right end to TEN 8 for 3 yards (C.Hope). |
| Q2 | 2nd and 7 at TEN 8 (9:52) | R.Bush up the middle to TEN 8 for no gain (A.Haynesworth, D.Thornton). |
Other than the 44-yard run, I fail to see what is so spectacular about these stats. After that one big gain, the Titans adjusted and Reggie Bush had no gain higher than 3 yards. His last play was stuffed for no gain, demonstrating a lack of power by Reggie Bush. Runs other than that 44-yarder had a measly 3 YPC. Though I'm sure his shiftiness was excellent (blech), I don't see anything special here.
Let's compare Reggie Bush to other 1st-round RBs, along with other rookie runningbacks this week who had signficant playing time. We will note the length of their longest run (their 'big gain'), YPC total and YPC without their big gain. These players are ranked by YPC without big gains from highest to lowest.
| Player | Team | Carries, Yards | Big Gain Yardage | YPC | YPC w/o Big Gain |
| Laurence Maroney | NE | 9, 66 yds | 27 | 7.3 | 4.9 |
| Dede Dorsey | CIN | 6, 68 yds | 46 | 11.3 | 4.4 |
| Wali Lundy | HOU | 9, 59 yds | 25 | 6.6 | 4.25 |
| Reggie Bush | NO | 6, 54 yds | 44 | 9.8 | 3.0 |
| Michael Robinson | SF | 11, 31 yds | 7 | 2.8 | 2.4 |
| Jerious Norwood | ATL | 7, 22 yds | 9 | 3.1 | 2.1 |
| PJ Pope | CHI | 8, 18 yds | 5 | 2.3 | 1.9 |
| Terrence Whitehead | CIN | 6, 16 yds | 7 | 2.7 | 1.8 |
| Mike Bell | DEN | 7, 20 yds | 8 | 2.9 | 1.7 |
| Maurice Drew | JAC | 4, 16 yds | 13 | 4.0 | 1.0 |
| Joseph Addai | IND | 3, 3 yds | 2 | 1.0 | 0.5 |
| PJ Daniels | BAL | 6, 14 yds | 13 | 2.3 | 0.2 |
| DeAngelo Williams | CAR | 8, 21 yds | 20 | 2.6 | 0.2 |
As you can see above, Reggie Bush is ranked 4th among rookie RBs, showing that, surprisingly, he was not nearly as overrated as it appears. Other RBs, including some marquee names, have clearly had worse games. However, 1st-round pick Laurence Maroney of the Patriots and two UDFAs were both more highly rated than Bush, even after having gains of over 20 yards taken from their stats.
To our overarching question of whether Bush is overrated, especially based on this weekend's game: Only a little.
Other notes:
- Rookie Patriots RB Laurence Maroney was spectacular in the Friday night game against Atlanta. With gains of 12 and 27 yards on his first two NFL plays, he had an excellent outing, even without considering his "big gain" of 27 yards. Without including the 12 yard run (another "big gain") he was still ranked 4th among all rookie RBs (not including himself at #1, of course). Watch this guy. He looks like he's going to be something special.
- In the opposite respect, Carolina Panthers RB DeAngelo Williams was horrible. Other than one nice scramble, he was shut down all night long.
- Denver rookie Mike Bell put up a worse performance than hoped for against the not-so-stingy Lions run defense. He had no runs over 10 yards and only had a 1.9 YPC when his biggest gain (8 yards) was taken out of account.
- However, Mike Bell was not nearly as horrible as the Colts' Joseph Addai, who was stuffed 3 times without gaining more than 2 yards on a single run play. Though Addai was not ranked worst according to my statistic, he undoubtedly had the worst game out of all of the rookies.
- Michael Robinson of the San Francisco 49ers appeared to have a reasonably good game, ranking just below the Jesus In Cleats in my statistic. He didn't have many big gains but played consistently overall.
- Maurice Jones-Drew of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Jerious Norwood of the Atlanta Falcons did not have good games rushing, though each had a nice receiving game with each catching one for a touchdown.
- Finally, who are these UDFAs? Rookies Wali Lundy and Dede Dorsey, of the [[Houston Texans|Texans] and Bengals respectively, were each ranked above Reggie Bush using my statistic, even when taking big runs (of 25 and 46 yards, respectively) out of account. Keep these players on your "watch" list.
Date
Sun 08/13/06, 8:51 pm EST
