Fantasy Football Cut-N-Go: Reggie Bush Frustrates Real & Fantasy Coaches

According to Jeff Duncan of The Times-Picayune, Saints coach Sean Payton grew frustrated with Reggie Bush during their Week 13 games for lack of effort. Join the club Mr. Payton of every fantasy football owner who took a chance on Bush and is being jilted now with injuries or this nonsense about his intensity levels.

Reggie Bush played in his first game since missing the previous two with a bone bruise in his right knee. Sean Payton told Fox broadcasters he wanted to limit Bush to 20 snaps in the game, but Payton clearly grew frustrated with Bush near the end of the first half. First, Bush took a screen pass and nonchalantly stepped out of bounds short of the first down after a nine-yard gain.

Bush has scored six times this season -- five rushing touchdowns and one receiving -- but, it's only been apparent in four games to fantasy owners that Bush is actually making an effort. Take out the games against Detroit in Week 1, Buffalo in Week 3, Carolina in Week 9 and St. Louis in Week 10 and the fantasy GM would have little evidence that Bush was even around.

Later, Bush was blown up and knocked off his feet by Brian Orapko as he attempted to run a route on a screen pass in the right flat, resulting in an incomplete pass. The play prompted Payton to demonstratively motion to Thomas to go into the game and replace Bush. Fox cameras caught Payton addressing an emotional Bush on the sidelines after the play. It was the 10th snap of the half for Bush but it looked like substitution was rooted in Payton's dissatisfaction with Bush's performance rather than his concern over snap counts. In fact, Bush did not play again until the final 30 seconds of the game, when Payton inserted him in the two-minute offense.

As you can see, it's not just us fantasy owners who can't believe that Reggie Bush isn't a much more productive offensive threat.

Other Fantasy Football Notes

• Jason Reid of The Washington Post gave news today that many expected. The Redskins have placed Clinton Portis on injured reserve, ending his 2009 football season.

• Davone Bess and Chad Henne have been working together since the NFL Combine and the bond they are forming is starting to pay off. Jeff Darlington of The Miami Herald says it's similar to the bond that Tom Brady and Wes Welker share. Bess is averaging 71.5 yards receiving per game over the last four games and 5.75 receptions. This is a decided uptick from his early-season work.

• Chris Brown of BuffaloBills.com says that Terrell Owens wants to play for two, maybe three more seasons. Fantasy owners would just be happy if he picked up the pace a little on a somewhat dismal 2009 season where Owens has only scored three touchdowns.

• ESPN's Adam Schefter says that the Redskins have a new kicker. Graham Gano was signed and Shaun Suisham was cut. Washington just doesn't score enough for this to have too much relevance, unless you play in a two-kicker league.

• For those curious about the two running backs in Denver's backfield, Lindsay H. Jones of The Denver Post says that Knowshon Moreno will get about 10-20 carries per game and Correll Buckhalter about half that.

• John Oehser of the Indy Football Report says that the set back that Anthony Gonzalez had in his attempt to return required the receiver to have extra surgery to tweak the knee a bit. Gonzalez still may be able to come back and contribute in the playoffs.

Cut-N-Go is Fantasy Football FanHouse's weekday roundup of the NFL news with fantasy football impact.