MVN - Most Valuable Network

Saints’ Bush Likely out for Season with Knee Injury

Saints RB Reggie Bush became the second New Orleans ballcarier today to go down with a knee injury this season.  The good news is it’s not a serious as Deuce McAllister’s torn ACL.

Bush will likely miss the remainder of the season with a torn PCL (posterior cruciate ligament), but will not have to undergo surgury to repair the ligament. 

According to team reports, Bush injured the knee in a Nov. 4 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

Saints coach Sean Payton contends that Bush is still only questionable for Monday night’s game against the Falcons.  The reason Payton isn’t fully committing to the loss of Bush is because the former Heisman Trophy winner is in the process of obtaining a second opinion about his injury. 

Odds are whatever doctor Bush sees will confirm the torn ligament detected and recommend Bush put an end to his already mediocre season.

So what does this mean for the Saints’ playoff hopes?  Well, the loss of Bush is not as catastrophic as it might initially seem.

Bush hasn’t exactly been the lightning rod of a playmaker everyone expected him to be when he took over as the primary ballcarrier after McAllister’s injury. 

He’s struggled with lingering injuries and hasn’t exploded for a hundred yard rushing game since last season. 

Besides, the Saints don’t win by relying on their running game.  They beat teams with their passing attack.  Sure, Bush is a part of that strategy, but not a huge part.  His longest reception this season is 25 yards.  That’s nothing special for a guy who catches so many ball out of the backfield. 

Where the Saints will suffer the loss of Bush is in the depth department.  Suddenly Aaron Stecker is the starting running back with no one worth two cents backing him up.  Pierre Thomas would be the backup but he’s still healing from bruised kidney and likely won’t play until next week at the earlist.

Perhaps the Saints will promote practice squad warrior Jammal Branch up to the active roster.  It’s really their only viable option.     

This entry was posted on Friday, December 7th, 2007 at 7:11 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.