NFL

Texans 23, Saints 10: Reggie Bush Isn't Very Good Right Now

Posted Nov 18, 2007 11:10PM By Stephanie Stradley (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Saints, Texans, NFL Fans, Houston, New Orleans

Text SizeAAA
If the first matchup of the Texans versus Saints were a referendum of the 2006 draft, then Texans defensive end Mario Williams would be the clear victor. He finished the day with a sack, a forced fumble from that sack and six tackles--along with lots of quarterback pressure. In a league where gifted defensive ends are usually harder to find than running backs, the Texans are hoping for many more of these types of performances.

Saints running back Reggie Bush, on the other hand, had a awful day. Against a Texans defense that has been awful against both the run and the pass, he rushed 15 times for 34 yards, an average of 2.3 yards. He caught 12 passes for 70 yards.

Most of his yardage came when the game was out of hand. He lost two fumbles, including one at the goal line that the refs on the field ruled a fumble, but arguably wasn't, but couldn't be overturned. Saints coach Sean Payton adds that he is concerned about Bush's missed assignments.

Obviously, with 47 yards total rushing this week and 43 yards last week against the Rams, the Saints are a team that obviously misses a healthy Deuce McAllister. And has fans wondering about the play calling. The Saints had so much more time of possession this week compared to the Rams game and still couldn't run the ball.

And now for some random recap and fun pictures you might not see if you read just the AP report of the game:

Post Game Quotes: First of all, if you are a bigtime fan, check out the post game quotes here. I like to read stuff in the players' and coaches' own words as newspapers have space limitations and my fandom doesn't.

The Return of Andre Johnson. The Texans offense looked much better today with the return of Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson who has been out since getting injured at the end of their week 2 game against the Panthers. He ended up getting wide open for a 73 yard touchdown after Saints cornerback Jason David bit on the run. The result of this play is double plus non-surprising to Saints fans as David may be the guy who is killing the Saints' season.

Texans Secondary v. Saints Passing Game: The newly configured Texans secondary played a pretty good game against a Saints offense that can throw the ball. Before Texans fans let out a big sigh at this Dunta Robinson-less performance, please note that the Saints dropped a lot of balls. Between the dropped balls and key fumbles, the Saints let the Texans off the hook. (some non-safe language in the linky). That being said, there wasn't some of the ridiculously bad play in the secondary that the Texans have shown throughout the season. But then again, it's hard to goon on the deep ball if the Saints don't challenge with any.

Owen Daniels' Unfortunate Nose: Texans tight end Owen Daniels has a broken nose after being crushed by two Saints defenders early in the first quarter. This play resulted in a fumble that Texans coach Gary Kubiak still doesn't think is a fumble. In any event, Daniels taped his nose up and went back into the game, but after catches would come out and put a towel to his face as blood just poured out of what used to be his nose. Lovely thing to see on the Jumbotron. Daniels received a game ball and jokingly describes himself as "hideous now."

Honoring Our Troops: Today was "Salute to the Military Day." Before the game, members of different service branches bring a flag the size of the field out for the National Anthem. Before the Anthem, the Texans mascot Toro, and servicemen from different military branches repelled off the roof of the stadium. As a World War II veteran and current Houstonian, former president George H. W. Bush served as one of the Texans honorary captains.

For those of you are veterans or are currently serving our country, I will add my thanks as well. I'm sure you get thanked a lot, (though maybe not as much as this guy) but here's some more thanks, and for all here's some pictures of game day:

Pictures can barely show how high the servicemen were repelling from. Here's the Marine representing.



And a little bit lower now.....



I have no idea how they store this flag. It is great seeing them take it out onto the field.



Former President George H. W. Bush came out to practice this week and commanded the Texans to win. He did his part by flipping the coin, and the Texans ended up winning the coin toss.



The Saints fans were at Reliant Stadium in force. It might have been the most away fans at Reliant Stadium ever. Texans fans love their tailgating, and Saints fans embrace it as well, a lot of them especially focusing on the drinking part of it. The people around me thought that the this guy might be the drunkest Saint fan at Reliant Stadium:



I asked him about it. He said "Nah, I'm just from New Orleans. We drink beer like it is water."

Tags: Andre+Johnson, AndreJohnson, deuce+mccallister, DeuceMccallister, dunta+robinson, DuntaRobinson, Gary+Kubiak, GaryKubiak, jason+david, JasonDavid, mario+williams, MarioWilliams, NFLWeek11Recaps, owen+daniels, OwenDaniels, reggie+bush, ReggieBush, Sean+Payton, SeanPayton

Related Articles

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 20 Comments

Fantasy Football Player Rankings

Fantasy Football Position Rankings
Keep your fantasy football team going strong with our position-by-position rankings.



NFL Team Photos




Latest NFL Photos