Gold, baby. Gold.

In his first four games, Reggie Bush didn't score a single touchdown. His longest run was 18 yards, and his longest reception 32 yards (on a little brush play by a WR that held up the linebacker for a split second, allowing him to get loose). He's been an absolute disaster, right? The way I ask the question hints at the answer, boys and girls.

Absolute disaster, no.

As I wrote about briefly here, I would have seen the logic in trading down from #2 for more picks and try to fill more holes in the roster. But the exciting move, and the good PR move, was to draft Reggie Bush. Yesterday, the exciting part paid off for the Saints in a big way. With less than five minutes left in the fourth quarter and the Saints down by four, he returned a punt 65 yards for his first touchdown of the year. It ended up giving the Saints the margin of victory in a 24-21 win.

This was the first big game-changing play he made with the ball in his hands. But that doesn't mean he's been ineffective with the ball in other ways, or that he's been ineffective without the ball. Noboy on defense wants to get beat by a rookie, and nobody on defense wants to end up on the highlight reel. Three big things come to mind:

1) Play action. Play action to Reggie Bush is gold, baby. Gold. The whole defense flows towards him, trying to make sure he doesn't break free for a big gain. That draws the linebackers in and the safeties over, creating huge areas of open space for the receivers to exploit. Marques Colston has had a great start to his career, and a nice chunk of it is due to getting single coverage. Another chunk goes to Drew Brees for finding him, and the rest is the fact that Colston is 6-4, knows how to use his body, and is tough to bring down after the catch.

2) Fake it to him. Reggie Bush comes in motion behind the QB. Deuce McAllister up the middle. One and sometimes two guys go with Bush to the outside, leaving McAllister all kinds of room up the middle. Why? McAllister is the established player. McAllister is breaking off big runs on normal running plays. Because defenses are scared of the highlight reel. Reggie Bush streaking down the sideline is the last thing they want to see. And let's give some credit to Deuce. He knows what he's doing, and he takes full advantage of the space that Bush creates. They also run play where they fake a throw to him on one side of the field, then come back to the other. Works like a charm.

3) Short passes. The Saints are running a short passing game anyway. They've had a few big pass plays, but most of it is in the 7-10 yard range to the receivers. Again, if you're going to run this sort of attack, the receivers need to have space, and they get it from Reggie Bush. With his abilities, you want to give him the ball quick and give him time to work against a defender. Sean Payton lines him up in the backfield or at receiver, and he runs routes within ten yards of the line of scrimmage, which matches him up against linebackers or safeties, an easier matchup than going against corners. It also draws the defense's attention back toward the line of scrimmage, giving the others time to get downfield. Just because these aren't 50-yard plays down the sideline doesn't mean they're not important. Keeping drives alive, with twelve catches for first downs. He leads the league in receptions, by the way, with 34. Yesterday he became the second player in league history to catch ten passes and return a punt for a TD in the same game.

It's possible that I'm overstating his impact, but I don't think so. The way I see guys swarm to him when he gets the ball tells me that they plan for him and make a commitment to stop him.