ESPN HYPES ADRIAN VS. REGGIE

We realize that ESPN needs to try to come up with an angle for creating excitement for each of its Monday night games. (Paying $1.1 billion per year for the right to broadcast the games tends to create a sense of urgency in that way.) As a result, the folks in Bristol are trying to make something out of the showdown between Adrian Peterson of the Vikings and Reggie Bush of the Saints. But for those of you expecting a repeat of the epic 1994 MNF matchup between Barry Sanders and the Lions and Emmitt Smith and the Cowboys, don’t hold your breath. While Reggie has sold a lot of jerseys and generated a lot of ink, he’s not an elite NFL running back. Instead, he’s a glorified third-down back who plays on more than third down. Bush has only one 100-yard rushing game in his career. His career per-carry average equates to a good GPA. He catches a lot of short passes and gains a few extra yards before being tackled. Peterson, on the other hand, is the real deal. But he’s stuck on a mediocre team that can run and stop the run, and can’t consistently pass or stop the pass. As we see it, this game is more about Peterson versus quarterback Drew Brees, whose team will win if he can pick apart the Cover 2 defense. But the notion of a heavyweight battle between tailbacks is more compelling. Even if one of the two is a welterweight.