Will Bush or Stecker replace Deuce?

By Darrell Laurant  |   Thursday, September 27, 2007  |  Comments( 1 )

New Orleans Saints
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If ever a team needed a bye week, it's the New Orleans Saints.

The Saints, picked my many to go to the Super Bowl this season, lost 31-14 to Tennessee last Monday night to slip to 0-3. And while fans at the Superdome haven't pulled out the old "Aints" paper bags to put over their heads -- yet -- there were more than a few boos for former folk heroes Drew Brees and Reggie Bush.

Winning has suddenly become hard in the Big Easy -- especially now, when head coach Sean Payton has to reinvent his running attack. Deuce McAllister, already limping going into the game, left the Monday night contest with a torn ACL. He'll be gone for the season.

The general consensus is that Bush will step into McAllister's spot, but is that really a good idea? The two players actually have little in common in style.

McAllister is a north and south, "downhill" runner. Bush prefers to operate in space, as the saying goes, and he's more moves than muscle. True, the Saints need to get Bush more involved in the offense, but running him between the tackles would seem to negate a lot of the things he does best.

Instead, we may see a lot more of Aaron Stecker and Pierre Thomas.

Stecker comes from Green Bay, which gives him a football pedigree by virtue of geography. A star at Western Illinois, which meant he was noticed by no one outside that state, he has spent the last eight years primarily running back kicks and catching passes out of the backfield. When McAllister was hurt three years ago, Stecker stepped in to rush for over 300 yards.

The rookie Thomas, meanwhile, is perhaps more like Bush, a back known for his afterburners. He returned kicks at Illinois for a 24-yard average, and rushed for 2,545 yards on an Illini team that was usually overmatched against Big Ten competition.

Payton and his offensive coaches will use the bye-week to toss Bush, Stecker and Thomas into the mix to see who emerges as what. Look for Stecker to replace McAllister, with Bush used more as a slotback.

The paper bags are on hold for the moment.
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