For Some Reason, Unfortunately, The Mario vs. Reggie Debate Still Continues...

Let me first start off by saying that I am still 100% in the camp of "The Texans Picked Right" by selecting Mario Williams #1 overall in the 2006 NFL Draft. I'm not going to be some Dickie Justice, Age 12, and write a negative Mario article just to get a rise out of people.

No, unfortunately there are plenty of short sighted NFL fans and analysts out there who are still wetting their pants over New Orleans Saints "running back" Reggie Bush's good game against the troubled Arizona defense this past Saturday. I'm not going to deny that he had a good game. But that's it.

A good game.

Yet, the media and callers on the radio (most of whom are likely Saints fans, as there are a lot of them in Houston) are back to saying the Texans messed up by picking Mario over Reggie in 2006. Which, to me, is just comical. I am willing to bet if you ask all 32 General Managers in the NFL today if they would rather have Mario Williams or Reggie Bush, short of maybe Al Davis, they're all more than likely going to take Mario.

A debate could be made that Mario did have an "off" year this season by playing through injury. He did not compile the flashy sack numbers he had the previous two seasons, but he improved greatly against the run and did still apply plenty of pressure on opposing QBs. That is the only way he got into the Pro Bowl this year "off of reputation." Texans fans may love to put Mario down sometimes, but he gets tons of respect by fans and players and coaches of other teams. They game-plan their offense for a guy like Mario Williams. When was the last time someone game-planned their defense towards stopping Reggie Bush? I am pretty sure it was when he was still wearing the cardinal and gold of a USC uniform.

The new argument is that Reggie Bush has "helped" the Saints get to the second NFC championship game of his career while Mario has yet to even taste the playoffs. Yeah, those 390 yards and 5 TDs he accounted for during the regular season sure were the deciding factor for this year's Saints. Also, and I may be a bit biased here, but the last time I checked the NFC South didn't have anything on the AFC South.

Everyone in the media (short of Mel Kiper) have recently admitted they were wrong about Mario and that he was indeed the correct pick. Yet, Reggie has one good game and the ESPN Hype Machine is back out of control. I guess that's just the nature of the beast.

Hey, one good thing out of it is that no one even mentioned Vince Young in that conversation though. I guess there's always a silver lining.