DETROIT, MI – NOVEMBER 28: Reggie Bush #21 of the Detroit Lions
reacts after a second quarter reception and long run while playing the
Green Bay Packers at Ford Field on November 28, 2013 in Detroit,
Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Reporting @AshleyDunkak
DETROIT (CBS DETROIT) – Detroit Lions running back Reggie Bush, whom head coach Jim Schwartz infamously described as “not a mudder,” did not get a chance to redeem himself in super snowy conditions Sunday.
His calf acted up in warm-ups, he told reporters Wednesday, but he did not injure it after slipping in the conditions.
“It was definitely icy out there, there was definitely a lot of snow, but I didn’t fall on the ground or anything like that,” Bush said. “I was just out there jogging. I wasn’t even really going hard. I was just jogging, and it just grabbed on me.”
With the stakes high for the Lions, the last place Bush wanted to be was on the sideline, but he said there was not an option. He was not held out as a precaution or because he struggled in the snow against Pittsburgh on Nov. 17, Bush said, but because he simply was physically unable to play.
“I couldn’t go,” Bush said. “I can’t even sit and lie and say I would’ve been able to push through it. I couldn’t push through it.”
One of the better rushers in the league, Bush agreed that perhaps the frigid temperatures contributed to his calf acting up and keeping him out of the game, but he could not say for certain.
“It’s possible, but we practiced outside Friday and I was fine,” Bush said. “It’s really hard to say. It’s one of those things where I can’t really wrap my brain around it because it’s never happened to me before, and I still don’t really understand how it happened. It’s just one of those things, but I look forward to getting back this week.”
Bush confirmed that he does indeed expect to play Monday night against the Baltimore Ravens.
While both the Lions and the Philadelphia Eagles struggled offensively early in Sunday’s snowstorm. Despite the conditions, though, Eagles running back LeSean McCoy ran circles around Detroit defenders, and Lions returner Jeremy Ross took back a punt and a kick for touchdowns.
Wide receiver Nate Burleson said he thinks Bush, with his quickness and elusiveness, would have been similarly effective.
“Once McCoy figured out he could move and shake like he usually does, he understood he had an advantage,” Burleson said. “You’ve got the ball in your hands, it’s easy to make guys miss in the snow. And LeSean, he got into his mode, and he was like, ‘I’m about to shake these guys,’ and he did that. And same thing with Jeremy. I told him, I was like, ‘Look, when you catch that ball, be confident in your cuts because everybody else is hesitant.’ They’re walking down, they’re kind of halfway approaching you, and he was like, ‘All right, I’m going to have to do that,’ and that’s what happened.
“Reggie probably would have been able to do what he does in that type of weather,” Burleson added.
Particularly after that weekend in Philadelphia, Bush and other offensive players look forward to playing the season’s final three games in domes.
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