Does Reggie Bush Need to Run Between the Tackles?

When BleacherReport.com asked me to write an analysis of Reggie Bush, I went into it thinking I was going to defend Reggie Bush, thinking he has been given a bad rap by the national media just because he doesn't run between the tackles as often as they would like him too, thinking that he has had a tremendous impact as a receiver and punt returner that people just don't realize.

But then I looked at the stats.  And the more I looked, the more I began to think that maybe there was something to this whole Bush Bashing thing. 

Seems like all I ever hear when analysts and broadcasters talk about Reggie Bush is how he can't/won't/doesn't run between the tackles.

This raises two questions:

1. Does he need to run between the tackles to become a superstar, a Hall of Famer, a game changing back, and so on?  Why is everyone so infatuated with running between the tackles?

2. Isn't catching passes, running to the outside, returning punts and scoring TDs all over the place enough?

Despite living in California, I have been a huge Saints fan all my life, and I have not missed more than a couple of Saints games on TV since Bush came into the league (thank you Direct TV/NFL Ticket!)  It seemed to me after watching him so much that he has had great success doing what he's been doing, he's certainly exciting to watch, and every time he touches the ball you inhale a bit and expect him to break it. But overall impact?

Now to be as fair to Reggie as possible, I decided to use all purpose yards per game (AP/ypg) and TDs per game (TD/pg).  Arguably the two most important stats, but most certainly for Bush, right?

Since he came into the league as the second overall pick in 2006, he has played in 34 games.  He has:

• 390 carries for 1,395 yards and 12 TDs.
• 202 catches for 1,320 yards and seven TDs.
• 497 return yards and four TDs.

That's a total of 3,212 all-purpose yards and 23 TDs.  In 34 games.

So his stats for my comparison are:

• 94.5 AP/ypg 
• 0.68 TD/pg

Pretty good right?  Who wouldn't take that sort of production?

Let's look at a few other backs.

Here are the running backs that were also drafted in the first and second rounds in 2006 the year Reggie Bush was drafted:

• Laurence Maroney (21st pick, first round)
• 92.2 AP/ypg
  
• 0.43 TD/pg
  

• DeAngelo Williams (27th, pick first round)
• 84.7 AP/pg
  
• 0.29 TD/pg
  

• Joseph Addai (30th pick, first round)
• 85.75 AP/ypg 
  
• 0.75 TD/pg
  

• Lendale White (45th pick, Bush's teammate at USC)
• 50.2 AP/ypg 
  
• 0.35 TD/pg
  

• Maurice Jones-Drew (60th pick)
  
• 130.24 AP/ypg
  
• 0.84 TD/pg

Interesting, to say the least. Even Laurence Maroney (why did they stop using this guy?) stacks up well against Reggie's numbers, and MJD completely blows him out of the water. Plus, MJD has had a very similar running back by committee situation, sharing time with Fred Taylor like Reggie has done with Deuce McAllister.

Now let's compare Minnesota's Adrian Peterson, who many consider a superstar stud RB:

• Adrian Peterson (seventh pick, 2007 draft)
• 132 AP/ypg 
  
• .75 TD/pg
  

Well AP/AD certainly seems to have the leg up on Reggie so far too.  They have both played on some mediocre teams, although one could argue that the Minnesota offensive line is superior.

Now, we can argue all day about offensive lines, strength of schedules, good teams/bad teams, but stats are stats, and the ones I chose to use should have supported Reggie better than any, and he still comes out looking lackluster.

So maybe it's time to start running this guy between the tackles.