The Saints drafting of Reggie Bush was a pivotal move in re-building the offense.  Bush is an all-around performer that has made a huge impact on the Saints special-teams and offense.  Bush has played in all 12 games this season and carried the ball 119 carries for 368 yards (3.1 ypc) and 4 TDs.  He has really excelled at catching the football.  Bush has caught 73 passes for 562 yards (7.7 avg) and a TD.  Reggie also has done a good job returning punts.   Bush has returned 22 punts for 198 yards (9.0 avg) and a TD.

This is just the beginning for a dominant NFL player of the near future.

The Saints have won two games in a row and the Cowboys have won 4 in a row.  Bill Parcells vs. Sean Payton should be an interesting match-up as Payton used to work for Parcells.

The Saints will try to be more balanced than they usually have been this season.  Deuce McAllister (790 yards rushing) and Reggie Bush (368 yards rushing) might have a rough time finding running room against the Cowboys defense which is allowing only 90.3 yards rushing and 3.6 yards per carry this season.  Drew Brees (3,649 yards passing) will have a hard battle on his hands against the Cowboys secondary which has 14 interceptions this season. 

Look for the Cowboys to blast away on the ground against the Saints who are allowing 133.1 yards rushing and 5.0 yards per carry so far this season.  Julius Jones (877 yards rushing) and Marion Barber (568 yards rushing) should both have good games against the soft Saints defense.  The Saints pass defense has allowed 21 TD passes this season and have only intercepted 8 passes on the season.  Look for T.O., Terry Glenn and Jason Witten to get their yards in this game.

The Cowboys are 4-1 at home this season and have won the 4 games by an average of 20 points per game.  I don’t think they’ll win by that many against the Saints, but I do think they will win this football game.

Starting DT Hollis Thomas was suspended by the NFL for 4 games for violating the NFL’s steroid policy.  Thomas had appealed the ruling because he said the steroids are in his asthma medication.

This would be a huge loss for the Saints as Thomas has played well this season.  Thomas has 43 tackles, 3.5 sacks and a fumble recovery.

The Saints decided to give Drew Brees a break and play basic football.   Brees completed 17 of 28 passes for 186 yards and a TD.  He also carried the ball 3 times for 14 yards (4.7 ypc).  Deuce McAllister carried the ball 26 times for 136 yards (5.2 ypc).  Reggie Bush had a fantastic football game.  Buch carried the ball 10 times for 37 yards (3.7 ypc) and 3 TDs.  He also caught 9 passes for 131 yards and a TD.

The defense played very well against the Niners.  The Niners carried the ball 15 times for 57 yards (3.8 ypc).  The Niners completed 14 of 28 passes for 145 net yards passing.

This was a nice win for the Saints at home.

The 49ers have won 3 of their last 4 games.  The Saints are in a little slump and are only 2-3 in their last five games.

The only chance for the Niners to pull an upset is to have Frank Gore (1,177 yards rushing) dominate the Saints rush defense….which is entirely possible.  The Saints have allowed an average of 140.0 yards rushing and 5.0 yards per carry for the season.  Look for Alex Smith to have a decent game utilizing play-action passes against a Saints defense that has already allowed 20 TD passes.

The Saints would probably like to run the ball some with Deuce McAllister (654 yards rushing) and Reggie Bush against the Niners D which is allowing 116.3 yards rushing and 4.2 yards per carry.  Drew Brees (3,463 yards passing) has been on absolute fire the last five weeks (all over 300 yards passing), and he should continue to play well against the porous pass defense of the Niners.

Look for the Saints to win this game, but it will be closer than most predict it will be.