Rafael Bush, who brought down Giants WR Victor Cruz here, has graduated from special teams to safety. (US Presswire)

Safety Rafael Bush shares the same last name and jersey number (25) as former Saints running back Reggie Bush. In last Sunday’s 41-0 thumping of Tampa Bay, he also showed some of the same moves.

With the Saints leading 10-0 in the second quarter, he intercepted a Josh Freeman pass at the New Orleans 9 and weaved his way for a 40-yard return, sidestepping multiple would-be tacklers before being dragged down near midfield. The play sparked a 51-yard TD drive that made the score 17-0, essentially putting the game out of reach before halftime.

“I was just trying to score,” Bush said. “I used to play running back in high school. Getting the ball in my hands kind of took me down memory lane. We don’t get the opportunity to get the ball in our hands that much.”

Bush has made more things happen than the Saints anticipated when they signed him off waivers from the Broncos on Sept. 1, eight days before the regular-season opener against the Redskins. Expected to contribute almost exclusively on special teams, he has played substantially at strong safety the past three weeks, making four tackles against the Falcons, two against the Giants and getting his first career interception against the Bucs.

He never made more than one tackle in the Saints’ first 12 games.

“It took me a while to understand the scheme and the terminology, being a new system,” he said. “We had a lot of veteran guys out here who helped me along the way. Once I was able to understand what was going on, I started gaining confidence throughout the weeks.”

Bush played in six games for the Broncos last year, making three tackles, and he spent 2010 on the Falcons’ practice roster after going undrafted out of South Carolina State. Nothing is his resume foretold this production at safety, but he earned his way into the defensive rotation with sterling special teams play.

His 12 tackles on kicks are tied for the second highest total on the team behind Ramon Humber’s 13.

“I have never seen a good defensive player become a really good defensive player until they made their bones on special teams,” Saints interim coach Joe Vitt said. “When you have a young defensive player and all of a sudden you see him on the coverage teams, you see him on the return teams, you see the courage, you see the play making in space, now it is the natural evolution to go play defense or offense.”

Saints free safety Malcolm Jenkins, who sat out the Tampa Bay game with a knee injury, liked what he saw from Bush when he had his first extensive playing time at Atlanta on Nov. 29.

Bush recovered a fumble just before the two-minute warning and thought he had a 71-yard TD return that would have pulled the Saints within 23-20, but he was ruled down at the spot of the recovery on replay review.

“Rafael Bush has really surprised me,” Jenkins said. “He’s played well all year when he got the opportunity. When we played at Atlanta, even though we lost, he played a huge role for us. He came in and was flying around making tackles.” 

Follow Saints reporter Guerry Smith on Twitter @CBSSaints.