SmashMouth

METAIRIE – Pierre Thomas, perhaps, is staring at the biggest opening he’ll ever have as a running back with the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints.

Now that Reggie Bush is expected to be sidelined at least six weeks recovering from a fractured right fibula, those 10 to 12 touches a game that usually go to him will have to go to someone else.

And what better player to get those touches or the bulk of those touches than Thomas, a.k.a. PT23, one of the most underrated and underappreciated chain movers in the Saints “spread offense.’’

There are four words from the previous paragraph that require elaboration:

- Spread Offense: I use this term only because Saints Coach Sean Payton has a laundry list of primary distribution points in his weekly game plan: WR Marques Colston, WR Lance Moore, WR Devery Henderson, WR Robert Meachem, TE David Thomas, TE Jeremy Shockey, PT23 and Bush. Even FB Heath Evans gets in the act now and then.

- Underrated: PT23 generally is not given his props around the NFL largely because of Payton’s “spread offense.’’ That is not a knock against the head coach, it’s a fact. And who can argue with success? Led by the maestro, QB Drew Brees, the Saints have led the NFL in scoring and yards in three of the last four years.

- Underappreciated: This is where it can get a little dicey. In terms of Payton, the coaching staff and his teammates, I believe they know what PT23 brings to the table on a weekly basis. In terms of salary compensation, a case can be made that PT23 is grossly underpaid, largely because he is merely one working part in a well-oiled machine (see spread offense) and still feeling the effects somewhat of entering the NFL in 2007 as an undrafted rookie free agent who initially made relative peanuts.

And, I understand why Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis towed a hard line with Thomas during the offseason. Loomis merely played by the restricted free agent rules under the current NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement. An equal argument could be made, however, that Thomas is worth more than a one-year, $1.684 million contract that he begrudgingly signed June 14.

At least PT23 and his agent, Lamont Smith, think so.

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