NEW ORLEANS — If the breathtaking Saints’ offense is the Louvre of the NFL, then for the first 13 weeks of the season Reggie Bush was just another tiny impressionist canvas — dusty, nondescript and unnoticed, positioned carefully in an out-of-the-way corner.
It was a very dark corner. The light bulb was out.
Bush, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2006 draft following a spectacular Heisman Trophy career at USC, was the NFL’s highest-paid decoy during the Saints’ 13-0 start. While defenses still feared his speed and elusiveness, his statistics told a plodding story.
Bush touched the ball just 70 times as a runner during the first 16 games, gaining 390 yards for a decent 5.6-yard average, but he had only one truly explosive play, a 55-yard scoring run against the Rams to help the Saints to a 9-0 start.
After averaging 13.5 yards on punt returns in 2008 and taking three to the house — including two against Minnesota in a 30-27 loss in which the Saints committed four turnovers — Bush almost was nonexistent on punt returns this year, averaging just 4.8 yards on 27 attempts.
But with the No. 1 seed Saints set to host their first NFC Championship game at the Superdome tomorrow against the Vikings, Bush once again has emerged as a featured weapon in coach Sean Payton’s arsenal.
In last week’s 45-14 rout of the Cardinals in the divisional playoffs, Bush accounted for 217 all-purpose yards — 84 yards on five carries, 24 yards on four receptions and 109 yards on three punt returns, including an 83-yard back-breaker in the second half that was the third-longest in NFL playoff history.
More importantly, Bush ran with a punishing style that belies his 203-pound frame, and he combined that with a quickness and cut-on-a-dime slashing style that had not been seen since his glory days at USC.
If Bush can provide that kind of spark to an offense that operated so efficiently without his major contributions most of the year, the Saints may indeed be impossible to beat.
Bush insists he’s still the same threat he’s always been.
“There’s nothing new about it,” Bush said. “I’ve always tried to be me, [to] play my game. Last week, coach gave me an opportunity to make plays, and I made the most of them.
“I’ve got to try to be a difference maker. There’s nothing new about my running style, about who I am, because if you look at the last few games, I was making similar runs.”
Payton said he designs personnel packages for Bush depending on the defensive matchups he sees.
“He’s a big reason for our success offensively,” Payton said. “He gives you a lot of different dimensions in regards to ways to use him. I thought he ran hard the other day. Obviously, on the punt return game, it’s significant.”
Several times in the Cardinals game, Drew Brees found Bush isolated on a linebacker, and that is a mismatch he will take every time. Brees figures to see if he can get Vikings linebacker Jasper Brinkley to make false steps, which could lead to more big plays by Bush.
“[Reggie’s] able to do so many things,” Brees said. “He’s a very versatile player that can obviously run the ball effectively out of the backfield. You can get it to him on the perimeter, throw the ball to him out of the backfield. [Then there’s] what he brings in special teams in regards to the return game. When he’s on and he’s hot, it’s fun to watch.”
Bush is entering the final year of his contract and is due to make $8 million in base salary next year. If he continues to produce, the Saints may have no trouble paying him at such a star level.
“Whenever I get that chance to make a play, I do that,” Bush said. “I try to be a difference maker, especially in games like these. These are big games. These are games when your stars need to show up and make plays.”