Eagles must deal with the versatility of Bush

For the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense, it will be a case of “Where’s Reggie?” when they play the New Orleans Saints on Saturday.

The 2005 USC Heisman Trophy winner has been used in all sorts of roles by the Saints this season. From week to week, New Orleans has used him at tailback, slot receiver, flanker and split end as well as a punt returner.

Bush was used in various roles by USC, but most often it was as a running back with receiving abilities. The Saints use him even more diversely and often send him in motion to create mismatches with the defense.

Although Bush’s NFL statistics are not nearly as eye-popping as those he accumulated at USC, he has had a solid rookie season, scoring nine touchdowns as a runner, receiver and kick returner.

With most of his better games coming in the second half of the season, Bush rushed for 565 yards in 155 carries (3.6 yards per run), led the team in receiving with 88 receptions for 742 yards (8.4 yards per catch) and returned 28 punts for a 7.7-yard average.

But Bush’s production was limited by the Eagles when these teams played during the regular season. Philadelphia held Bush to 25 yards rushing in 11 carries and 35 receiving yards, but the Saints won, 27-24, in the Superdome on Oct. 15.

It was the first game that the Saints featured Bush and power running back Deuce McAllister on the field together, a tactic that caught the Eagles off guard early as New Orleans jumped out to a 17-3 lead.

But after McAllister suffered a second-quarter hamstring injury, limiting his effectiveness the rest of the game, Bush became a non-factor and the Saints won behind the passing of Drew Brees and a drive that lasted 8 minutes 26 seconds and ended with a 31-yard field goal by John Carney with no time left on the clock.

Since then, the Saints have found more ways to play Bush and McAllister together and the former Trojans standout has responded. Although he’s still learning on the job on how to be an effective NFL running back, Bush has had his moments running the ball out of the backfield.

In three of the last four games, Bush averaged more than 6.0 yards per carry, including a season-high 126-yard performance against the New York Giants.

Bush’s versatility has helped Brees and the Saints use a fast-pace, no-huddle offense to dictate defensive coverages. New Orleans likes to catch a team in a base defense and use Bush like a wide receiver in spread formations. When an opponent has extra defensive backs on the field, the Saints like to use Bush as a decoy and run the ball with McAllister.

Summary: Under coordinator Jim Johnson, Philadelphia likes to blitz and use a variety of personnel packages on defense. The Saints will try to keep the Eagles from substituting between plays. With injured cornerback Lito Sheppard out of the Eagles’ lineup, expect New Orleans to keep a fast pace in order to get matchups in its favor.

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X and O’s extra: The Eagles have won six straight because of their defense, but they will have their hands full with Saints wide receivers Marques Colston, Devery Henderson and possibly Joe Horn, who is questionable because of an injury. Brees is one of the league’s best in looking off safeties and New Orleans does a great job with double-move patterns. Without Sheppard, the Eagles may have to be more conservative defensively.

lonnie.white@latimes.com