More photos » by Keith Srakocic - AP

5 days ago: Cincinnati Bengals' Bernard Scott, left, returns a kickoff for a touchdown past Pittsburgh Steelers' Keyaron Fox in the first quarter of an NFL football game in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

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As if we didn't document Bernard Scott's weekend enough already, we've decided to pile on the mountain of awesomeness that is Bernard Scott. Every Wednesday, the NFL announces players of the week for offense, defense and special teams for the AFC and NFC. Carson Palmer won the award during his five touchdown day (aka, holy-freaking awesome day) against the Bears during week seven and Antwan Odom won it in week two after recording an impressive five sacks against the Green Bay Packers.

Add Bernard Scott to the list.

The NFL announced Wednesday that Scott won the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week after recording a 96-yard touchdown return against the Pittsburgh Steelers and 206 yards on kickoff return. Scott is the first Bengals player named the Special Teams Player of the Week since Tab Perry in week 13 during the 2005 season, ironically enough against the Pittsburgh Steelers, recording 197 yards on five kickoff returns, including a 94-yarder that setup Rudi Johnson's one-yard touchdown run giving the Bengals the lead (31-24) with 7:57 left in the third quarter (run-on sentences for the win!). Scott is also the first Bengals player to record a touchdown on kickoff return since Glenn Holt on November 4, 2007.

Here's the award winnings for week 10.

AFC Offensive Player of the Week: QB Peyton Manning, Colts
AFC Defensive Player of the Week: Safety Mike Brown, Chiefs
AFC Special Teams Player of the Week: RB Bernard Scott, Bengals
NFC Offensive Player of the Week: WR Sidney Rice, Vikings
NFC Defensive Player of the Week: CB Charles Woodson, Packers
NFC Special Teams Player of the Week: P Hunter Smith, Redskins

More photos » by Keith Srakocic - AP

5 days ago: Cincinnati Bengals' Bernard Scott, right, returns a kickoff for a touchdown past Pittsburgh Steelers' Ike Taylor, left, in the first quarter of an NFL football game in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

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In our post-game write up, we talked about Bernard Scott's game in the Bengals win over the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday. We wrote that "Scott recorded 206 yards on kickoff returns, giving him 260 yards total on offense and special teams." More importantly, he had a five-yard run with 3:05 left in the game that picked up a first down, forcing Pittsburgh to use two timeouts and subsquently taking another minute off the clock.

Scott is one of five NFL rookies nominated for Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week.

The others are.

• WR Jeremy Maclin, Philadelphia Eagles. Caught six passes for 76 yards and a touchdown.
• RB Beanie Wells, Arizona Cardinals. Rushed the football 16 times for 85 yards, two touchdowns and 32 yards receiving.
• LB Clay Matthews, Green Bay Packers. One sack and two fumble recoveries.
• LB Brian Orakpo, Washington Redskins. Five tackles and 1.5 quarterback sacks.

This is a fan vote. So come in full force and vote for Scott.

More photos » by Rob Carr - AP

about 1 month ago: Cincinnati Bengals' Bobbie Williams (63) celebrates after they defeated the Baltimore Ravens 17-14 during an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

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It's not that I actively bash Peter King. I find his view that the Bengals are a sideshow at a circus to be somewhat irritating. But in the end, my feeling about the national media is trivial. They don't pay obsessive attention to the Bengals day-in and day-out with teams like the Patriots or Cowboys, or players like Brett Favre, or Brett Favre, or Brett Favre around. It is what it is, and I leave it at that.

However, King did release his Midseason All-Pro team on Tuesday and while no Bengals player was listed, it got me thinking. Do the Bengals have one player that's above all else in the league?

The first player that comes to mind is Cedric Benson. King lists Chris Johnson as the league's best running back in 2009. That's a fine choice. But in my opinion, if you're a player that's deserved of being the best player at that position, then you should be on a team better than 2-6 and better than the 23rd best scoring offense in the NFL.

Other than that, I have a hard time replacing any of our players to King's list. Maybe Benson would fit better as Comeback Player of the Year rather than Brett Favre. But if Favre is considered for an award, you better believe he's getting the hardware. I just don't know exactly where Favre went. Didn't he play the entire season last year? Maybe it's the fact he came back. Get it? Comeback. Yea.

With that in mind, and with the first-half over -- can you believe we're already at the half-way point? -- I'd like to present this year's CincyJungle Midseason Awards.

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More photos » by Ed Reinke - AP

12 days ago: Cincinnati Bengals running back Cedric Benson (32) heads upfield against Baltimore Ravens linebacker Jarret Johnson (95) in the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)

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For the second time in the last two games the Bengals have played, Cedric Benson is nominated for the FedEx Ground Player of the game. He won it after the Bengals beat the Bears. In his last game, Benson recorded 117 yards rushing and a touchdown on 34 carries, becoming the first running back to record back-to-back 100-yard rushing games against the Baltimore Ravens defense since Ricky Williams did it in 2002-2003. Benson is also the first running back to record two 100-yard rushing efforts against the Ravens in the same season since Jerome Bettis did it in 1997. Note on the Bettis number: We're not 100% confident on that number. We ran through the history of Baltimore Ravens and could have easily missed something.

As a result, Benson is nominated with Titans running back Chris Johnson and Falcons running back Michael Turner for FedEx Ground Player of the Week.

Benson has won the award twice already this season. The first against the Baltimore Ravens the first time (27-120-1) and the second against the Chicago Bears (37-189-1).

Remember, it's a fan vote. So put get Benson the votes to win it again! Vote, vote, vote.

More photos » by Ed Reinke - AP

26 days ago: Cincinnati Bengals running back Cedric Benson (32) is tackled by Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs (55) in the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)

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I had a rough week this week, which was highlighted by a broken down car that I had to have towed from a 6'6" garage in downtown Dayton. Note, they don't make many tow trucks today that are 6'6". However, while my week was rough, Cedric Benson and Carson Palmer each had a good week, thanks to an offense that exploded for 45 points Sunday. Palmer had already won the AFC Offensive Player of the Week award earlier in the week.

That wasn't enough. It never is.

On Friday, Palmer was named the FedEx Air Player of the Week and Benson was named the Fed Ground Player of the Week. Call it FedEx Domination. A FedEx Sweep. Have a problem with the UPS guy drawing on the white board? Call in the FedEx Dominators, Palmer and Benson. They'll show you where that marker won't easily erase. Sorry. Got carried away.

This is the second time that Benson won the FedEx Ground Player of the Week. Against the Baltimore Ravens, Benson rushed for 120 yards on 27 carries and scored a touchdown.

More photos » by Gail Burton - AP

about 1 month ago: Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer throws during the second quarter of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Gail Burton)

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So it's understandable why they call it offensive player of the week when all it means is that the player plays offense. I mean, it's not like Palmer's offensive, is he? He takes showers, he's not vulgar, save for the random hand smelling moments after taking a snap from Kyle Cook. And it's not like he's offensive when he speaks. He's a rather clean cut fellow who doesn't offend. In all honesty, there are several football terms that, you know, could be misinterpreted if the context isn't clearly about football. What about "The hole closed on him before he could penetrate it." How about anytime that an announcer says, "he's off to the sidelines for a quick blow"? Interesting. "He gets penetration in the backfield." Yikes. "He found a hole and slid through it." Understandable. Racing has "pole position". What about muffed?

Speaking of Palmer, do you know what 233 yards passing, five touchdowns and a 146.7 passer rating gets you? A lot of women if you play your cards right. And what awesome quarterback wouldn't like a lot of women? However, the husband and proud father of two has no more use for women that dig great passer rating statistics. Note: I once threw a touchdown pass in middle school for a perfect passer rating. Note, part II: No, I didn't. Instead, he'll have to settle for beating the hell out of opposing secondaries, with a side of weekly recognition awards.

Geoff Hobson writes that Palmer was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week.

It is Palmer’s first league recognition since he was named AFC Player of the Month in September of 2005 (eight TDs and two interceptions in the first three games) and his first Player of the Week award since he engineered 24 fourth-quarter points in the 27-26 win at Baltimore on Dec. 5, 2004. Stat guru and PR chief Jack Brennan noted that his five touchdown passes and no interceptions tied Boomer Esiason’s club record for differential set 20 years ago in a game against Tampa.

That's one award down. Can the Cincinnati Bengals complete the offensive trifecta, with Palmer winning the FedEx Air and Cedric Benson winning FedEx ground awards? You can do something about it, as long as you vote, vote, vote and vote. You have until noon on Friday to make the vote.

So, like the Bengals played really good last week. They scored a bunch of points and didn't allow many points. That's a recipe for a great weekend, wouldn't you say? As a result of super awesome weekend in which the Bengals beat the Bears by five touchdowns, two players are nominated for this week's FedEx weekly awards.

Carson Palmer is nominated for this week's FedEx Air Player of the Week. Cedric Benson is nominated for this week's FedEx Ground Player of the Week. The nominations are:

Vote for the Bengals. Tell all of your friends too.

One could argue that Cedric Benson won the FedEx Ground Player of the Week award because he did it against a team that hadn't allowed a 100-yard rusher in 39 straight games. With 27 carries, Cedric Benson recorded 120 yards rushing and a 28-yard touchdown. The touchdown, in the closing minutes of the third quarter, gave the Bengals a 10-7 lead over a heavily favored opponent. In Baltimore, no less.

Benson, the NFL leading rusher, has recorded two 100-yard rushing performances this season, three touchdowns with a season-average of 4.4 yards-per-rush. In five games this year, Benson hasn't recorded less than 74 yards rushing, and fell below 4.0 yards-per-rush in one game (Denver). Rudi Johnson holds the franchise record for most yards rushing in a season, rushing for 1,458 on 337 attempts and 12 touchdowns in 2005. Below, we compare Rudi Johnson's franchise setting season to Cedric Benson's season this year.