Question of the Day: Should the Bengals think about rotating backup running backs more during games?

by Kirkendall on Oct 12, 2009 12:28 PM EDT in Analysis Comment 24 comments

Unless Dolphins' running back Ronnie Brown records 119 yards rushing or more during tonight's Monday Night Football game against the New York Jets, Cedric Benson will lead the NFL with 487 yards rushing. He has six more yards than Adrian Peterson, arguably the most talented running back in all of football. Benson leads the NFL with 111 carries, ranks third with 20 first downs and second, behind speedy Chris Johnson, with four 20-yard rushing plays. Benson was the first running back to record 100 yards in 40 games against the Baltimore Ravens defense.

Benson has been very good this year. In fact, Benson's rushing total against the Broncos, Packers, Steelers and Ravens is the most yards rushing allowed by the respective defenses this year. Benson's 76 yards rushing against the Broncos is the most yards allowed to a running back this year against Denver's defense. Benson's 141 yards rushing against the Packers is the most yards allowed to a running back against Green Bay's defense. Benson's 76 yards rushing against the Steelers is the most yards allowed to a running back against Pittsburgh's defense. Benson's 120 yards rushing against the Ravens is the most yards allowed to a running back against Baltimore's defense.

The argument could be, and perhaps should be, made that the rebuilt offensive line is largely to thank. Kyle Cook has been holding his own against opposing nose and defensive tackles. From my non-scientific and non-statistical based point of view, Cook's performances across the board have been very solid. His biggest struggle came against a defensive tackle that many guards and centers struggle against. Cleveland's Shaun Rogers. It also helps that the Bengals have called the Big Packages more this year than I can remember, bringing in backup tackle Dennis Roland to play tight end, or moving Andrew Whitworth to the right side alongside Anthony Collins.

Even though the Bengals have the league leading running back, they're still only ranked ninth in NFL, averaging 126.6 yards-per-game. That's because Benson gets the bulk of the work, accounting for 77% of the Bengals 144 rushing plays. Combined, Bernard Scott and Brian Leonard have 15 rush attempts and 56 yards rushing. Carson Palmer is actually the team's third leading rusher, picking up 42 yards rushing on 12 scrambles.

Benson is on pace for 355 rushing attempts, six rushing attempts shorts of Rudi Johnson's franchise record 361 rushes in 2004.

On one hand, why not keep the train rolling? Benson's performance this year is great and the team's balanced offense is in part why they're doing so well. On the other hand, the Bengals run the risk of wearing Benson down as the season progresses, especially in December. Here's your question of the day. Should the Bengals keep going the way they're going? Or should they start thinking of relieving Benson more, giving Bernard Scott and Brian Leonard more playing time to make sure Benson is fresher towards the end of the season?

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Close Games

This is where close games hurt us. When the game is on the line you want your best back out there. If we start getting leads then we will see more of Scott and Leonard.

by CincyRed on Oct 12, 2009 12:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Close games

I think the reason Benson hasn’t received significant rest throughout games this year is the due to the fact the games are too close.

Yesterday the Giants were able to spell Eli Manning and get David Carr some playing time because they were destroying the Raiders. If it were a close game that wouldn’t have happened.

If the Bengals can pull away from their opponent in the 3rd or 4th quarter, then we’ll see Scott and Leonard get more carries. Until that happens, rush on Cedric!!

by BigJilm815 on Oct 12, 2009 12:41 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I say let him decide. I trust Ced to know when he needs a breather. But would love to see Scott get a few more opportunities to show us what he did in the preseason. And as far as Leonard goes, his threat out of that backfield on third down is huge, considering our Tight Ends are still finding themselves.

by Pastor Allen on Oct 12, 2009 12:46 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

we have seen BScott and Leonard getting more touches over the past 2 weeks

so im not worried about it yet

"Ghiaciuc's play was a distraction"

by firstPick on Oct 12, 2009 12:51 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

would love to see more of scott

however, if it aint broke, dont fix it.

benson and our o-line seem to be on a mission this season. leave it alone and trust in jim anderson.

by palewook on Oct 12, 2009 1:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I kinda agree, but I kinda don't

Why should we mess with a winning formula? Well, I don’t necessarily think that we should. But on the other hand, We’ve seen both Scott and Leonard have success this year out of the backfield as well as Benson, so I think that in the long-run it’s worth a shot. If we try it and continue to have success on a play-by-play basis, with Scott and Leonard seeing more touches, then I am all for it.

This is our year!

by Carsonorbust on Oct 12, 2009 11:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i think benson should continue to get the bulk of the carries

since he’s on pace to have a pro bowl season. however, i think leonard should should get 4 or 5 a game and scott should get 2 to 3. the thing is, i think scott and leonard should be in a little bit more for their versatility in the passing game so their carries should only be meant to set up certain pass plays and not necessarily to spell benson.

by GrooveLeg on Oct 12, 2009 1:47 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Benson is on pace for over 350 carries this season, and backs who have that many carries, generally start to get hurt.
Ideally, we will have some substantial leads in the future, and we can start putting carries off on Scott and Leonard, but, that is a luxury we haven’t earned. When games are close, we have to keep giving to Benson, and let him wear down the defense.

by R.F. Mehl on Oct 12, 2009 2:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

They doing just fine

Benson’s realy hasn’t carried much since being out of College he got very fresh legs:)

by featherman on Oct 12, 2009 3:04 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Agreed that he hasn't run much since college but...

look at Michael Turner. He was the same way and after his huge season last year, he is dragging a little so far.

by smoormandiddy on Oct 12, 2009 3:41 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

mike Turner I think eventhough LT's backup for a couple years still had some miles before Atlanta

by featherman on Oct 12, 2009 7:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Remember back in the day...

….when it was common for teams to have a feature back? And it was common for him to be THE runningback and sport at least 75% of the team’s carries? Yeah, that’s less and less common in the NFL. I think Ced is fine. This was common just a few years ago and is nothing wrong.

Plus, lets not worry about this until we are either well ahead in a game or well ahead in the Division. The AFC North is the toughest in football. Lets worry about wearing Ced down after we have secured a playoff spot.

by JohnnyK on Oct 12, 2009 3:18 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

+370

http://www.footballdocs.com/running_back_carries.html

this link analyzes how backs perform following a season with greater than 370 carries. It’s almost always not a good thing.
That being said, I think this is our year, and we can’t afford to worry about next year right now.

by R.F. Mehl on Oct 12, 2009 3:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

350

I thought it was 350, but either way on pace for 355 isn’t that much. I dont think it’s the reps given to Benson, but the lack of reps for the others. I’d like to see more Scott, but when we’re up by 17 points.

by mskiles314 on Oct 12, 2009 4:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Wow

That was fantastic. Love that article. And the immune RBs were very rare. I think this speaks for itself. We gotta start giving Scott some more time. I mean, I get that we want to win and I am all for that, but think of the downside too. If Benson gets hurt will Scott or Leonard be ready to take the full load? It would take them more time because they haven’t had enough as it is.

Go read a book!

by N8lol on Oct 14, 2009 10:23 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i think

we have the responsibility to field the best team at the best time, but i also think we have to think about the coming years.

a) it would be nice to have benson back next year and have him able to be effective.
b) scott needs to see more game situations so he can develop and start to recognize blitzes and the pickups he’ll need to do
c) i don’t know if our best team doesn’t involve a rotation. look what scott did in the 4th quarter at cleveland. i think he can do that and we need to get defenses to respect different looks as it will open up the offense.

i think if we mortgage our future by burning out benson this year, we’ll be back to being the same old bungles again. we need consistent success year after year.

by brandone on Oct 12, 2009 3:42 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

running styles?

I pose this question to the Bengals fans that know more about our RBs than I do – do Scott and Leonard have a much different running style than Benson? If we start rotating running backs more, are they going to try to power straight up the middle just like Ced does, or are either of our other guys able to run more to the outside?

by Rocket_Man_G on Oct 12, 2009 4:02 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

yup we have 4 different guys in the backfield

benson – power

johnson – blocking

leonard – hands

scott – speed

by palewook on Oct 12, 2009 4:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

and lets not forget Carson

We’ll just call him the fourth down back.

by Pastor Allen on Oct 12, 2009 7:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

lol

Never thought I’d ever see Carson scramble for first downs, and I’m glad he does, but it isn’t pretty to watch him run.

That said, I’d like to see a little more of Scott and/or Leonard, especially if we can get up on opponents early. Ced is a beast who only gets better with more touches. Provided we can keep playing the way we are now, a healthy Ced Benson is a must for a playoff run.

In other news, the Bucs tried to bring the option run into an NFL game against Philly. Needless to say it didn’t work

by Danimal, Destroyer of Worlds on Oct 13, 2009 12:03 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

carson scares me when he "runs"

a blind drunken duck moves faster. matter of time before a defender clocks palmer cold.

by palewook on Oct 13, 2009 10:58 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oh Reginald....

I disagree! Palmer running keeps the defense honest. Plus he seems to have great awareness of when to slide. As long as he continues to be selective about how and when he runs, I love that poor blind duck!

More on topic, I think Scott should receive about 5 -7 carries per game. He’s been very effective so far and I think it would keep Cedric fresher longer.

by The Dealio on Oct 13, 2009 2:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

An idea

Particularly in games where the Bengals are up by a couple of scores (wait…moment of silence while I think about that for just a bit…….okay, thanks!), they could use Scott between the 40s to spell CedBen in the same way that the Packers used to use Najeh Davenport to spell Ahman Green a few years ago.

by TheWalrus1971 on Oct 12, 2009 11:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs