Jarrett Bush

[Patler]

The guy deserves his own thread.
The emergence of Masthay has been paralleled by the re-emergence of Jarrett Bush as a force in punt coverage. How many times have we seen him down field, waiting for the punt to land so he can down it? You know the Bears had to be doubling him at least some of the time, yet he got down field quickly time and time again to play the ball or force the runner. He made two nice plays right at the goal line, even if one was ruled a touchback. Not just yesterday, but for the last half-season he has played well.

[pbmax]

I think the two go hand it hand. When its a decent punt with hang time and it goes where its intended, its a lot easier for the gunner to get there.

[mmmdk]

About hangtime: We need hangtime on kickoffs too, not bullit kick offs inside the 5, too hard to cover. Crosby has taken a step back in this department.

[wootah]

I absolutely agree, Patler. He has played great. He has been the whipping boy for a lot of the fans, mainly due to his large number of penalties, but he seems to have that cleared out now.

It's hard not to root for the guy if you see his interview on packers.com. He is clearly uncomfortable talking to the media, and has trouble finding his words. But he makes it clear how he cherishes his role and the impact he can have on the outcome of the game. The past troubles with the fan support were also adressed and this is what he had to say:

It's unfortunate what they thought of me. But what I thought of them didn't change. I thought they were still the greatest fans in the world and that it was up to me to change their perception of me.

What a fantastic attitude. Sure he isn't the best DB on the team, but I tip my hat to that guy, he has done an outstanding job this year.

[Joemailman]

He's been fantastic lately. His performance against the Bears on Jan. 2 was as good a game as I've seen a gunner have. A lot of people thought TT had taken leave of his senses when he matched an offer Bush received from another team a couple of years ago. Seems TT was right again.

[Freak Out]

In typical FOX fashion you never get to see what is going on with the gunners but I was amazed how often he was at the goaline waiting for the ball.

[RashanGary]

Bush has been great.

[SMBASS]

Long time lurker on PackerRats. This is my favoite Packer board and one of only two that I spend any time on. Kind of funny that I finally decided to jump into the fray on a thread about Jarrett Bush!

I decided to re-post some excerpts from a "discussion" that I was involved in regarding Jarrett prior to the start of the season. He's been a favorite whipping boy for a lot of fans and quite a lightning rod for criticism. (Some justifiably deserved!) I'm not sure that his ceiling as a DB is terribly high although I did think he was playing better during the preseason. He just doesn't seem to be able to find and adjust to the ball as quickly as someone like Sam Shields does when it's in the air. Anyway...

(Quote)
"If I remember correctly I think it was sometime during the season last year when that asswipe Bedard (Who I absolutely can't stand.)asked Jarrett something along the lines of, "What's it like to possibly be the most hated player on the team?" I thought, "Are you kidding me? Did he really just ask him that!" Man what a dick! You could tell that Jarrett was honestly shocked and hurt to hear that. As I said before, he seems like a good kid and he's obviously trying as hard as he can to get better so I don't blame him for being hurt by that statement. I guess it just makes me really root for the kid to somehow get it together and start making some positive plays.

I was always a pretty good athlete growing up but I wish in my "yute" I would have had even 1/2 of the athletic ability of someone like Bush. You simply do not last 5 years on an NFL roster without having some fairly serious football and athletic skills."

(End Quote)
I'm really happy to see Jarrett step up his game and make some great contributions on our Special Teams this year. He has been playing really well over the past month and he's made some huge plays at critical times. He was taking so much crap from so many fans that I decided to adopt him as my "underdog" player to hopefully have a breakout year. He seems like a really good kid, has a great attitude, and by all accounts is a very hard worker. How can you not root for someone like that!

Great job Jarrett and keep it up! One more game to go!!!

[pbmax]

Welcome smbass and put your feet up for a while.

And yes, Bedard and Wilde love those kinds of questions. The ironic thing is that both of them, when interviewed, seem somewhat prickly and guarded about criticism. I think if a fan wrote them an email with a similarly loaded question, they would be upset. Yet that does not stop them from asking others the same kind of question.

It speaks well of Bush that he still wanted to perform for the fans he was told hate him. He must have a reasonably strong sense of self to not believe every proposition brought to him by the likes of Bedard.

[RashanGary]

Great first post, smbass. A guy in the stands at practice was yelling, "oh god, there's Jarrett Bush, how is he still on the team?" Everyone, including Bush had to of heard him. He was that 40 something bloated liver prick that you tend to see wearing Favre jerseys and screaming to TT that he needs to be fired, but this big mouth was a Bush hater. These people are sad.

And I agree.I listen to all of the interviews and Jarrett Bush is one of the most likable Packers of the last 5 years. Treating him the way people do is ridiculous.

[gbgary]

yup...welcome.

[Smeefers]

He's been fantastic lately. His performance against the Bears on Jan. 2 was as good a game as I've seen a gunner have. A lot of people thought TT had taken leave of his senses when he matched an offer Bush received from another team a couple of years ago. Seems TT was right again.

I'm still not sold on Bush. I'll admit TT was right when I see more out of the kid. If this is as good as he gets, we got robbed.

As for Bush himself, I've never liked him. Everyone knows the reasons why, but I am willing to admit that he has improved. His penalties are way down this year and he seems to be making a much larger impact on special teams. That being said, I wouldn't be suprised if he was still the most penalized player on ST this year. He started off getting a penalty a game if I remember correctly. I suppose he just has a lot more to prove to me than a good stretch. I'd much rather him prove me wrong than prove me right though.

Heck, same goes for Slocum. The ST's have seriously improved over the last 6 or 8 weeks and the penalties are way down. The only problem I really have left with ST is Kicking the ball off and always ending up defending from the 35. Once again though, I'm going to have to see a heck of a lot more from him before I'm happy with him. At most he's bought himself another year. If he keeps it up though, I'll gladly eat crow.

[SMBASS]

Long time lurker on PackerRats. This is my favoite Packer board and one of only two that I spend any time on. Kind of funny that I finally decided to jump into the fray on a thread about Jarrett Bush!

I decided to re-post some excerpts from a "discussion" that I was involved in regarding Jarrett prior to the start of the season. He's been a favorite whipping boy for a lot of fans and quite a lightning rod for criticism. (Some justifiably deserved!) I'm not sure that his ceiling as a DB is terribly high although I did think he was playing better during the preseason. He just doesn't seem to be able to find and adjust to the ball as quickly as someone like Sam Shields does when it's in the air. Anyway...

(Quote)
"If I remember correctly I think it was sometime during the season last year when that asswipe Bedard (Who I absolutely can't stand.)asked Jarrett something along the lines of, "What's it like to possibly be the most hated player on the team?" I thought, "Are you kidding me? Did he really just ask him that!" Man what a dick! You could tell that Jarrett was honestly shocked and hurt to hear that. As I said before, he seems like a good kid and he's obviously trying as hard as he can to get better so I don't blame him for being hurt by that statement. I guess it just makes me really root for the kid to somehow get it together and start making some positive plays.

I was always a pretty good athlete growing up but I wish in my "yute" I would have had even 1/2 of the athletic ability of someone like Bush. You simply do not last 5 years on an NFL roster without having some fairly serious football and athletic skills."

(End Quote)
I'm really happy to see Jarrett step up his game and make some great contributions on our Special Teams this year. He has been playing really well over the past month and he's made some huge plays at critical times. He was taking so much crap from so many fans that I decided to adopt him as my "underdog" player to hopefully have a breakout year. He seems like a really good kid, has a great attitude, and by all accounts is a very hard worker. How can you not root for someone like that!

Great job Jarrett and keep it up! One more game to go!!!

I am simply estatic for Jarrett this morning! Did he play perfect.... absolutely not....but he was thrust into an incredibly tough situation and he didn't flinch one bit! He kept fighting and scrapping and in the end made a couple of huge positive plays that definitely impacted the game! The pick, the blitz hit on Roth that forced him to hurry a throw, and being in good position to try to make a play on the last 4th down pass just to name a few.

I don't even fault him much for the Ward TD since Big Ben had all day to throw, extended the play with his feet and then made a perfect pitch and catch with Ward. It's tough for even a damn good C.B. to hold coverage on a receiver as experienced and good as Ward for that long. There are going to be liabilities when any team is forced to play their 4th or 5th C.B.

Thanks for believing in yourself and not letting all of the nay-sayers bring you down to their level Jarrett! You're a good guy with a great "team" attitude and if there's such thing as karma you were paid back in spades today! Congratulations! You've earned it young man!

[bobblehead]

Bush has been great.

Bush is a playmaker.

[Lurker64]

Bush is a playmaker.

As a fifth or sixth CB? He's a red-chipper at least.