There was a moment in which some of us briefly failed to achieve one of those basic necessities in life. Breathing. That was after hearing Cedric Benson had injured his hip against the Cleveland Browns. Well, at least a certain Bengals blogger who spent most of his day at work on Thursday shotgunning cans of Mountain Dew to stay awake. You do get one hell of a kick, by the way.
However, Benson suited up and practiced on Thursday (as did Maualuga):
After sitting out Wednesday’s practice with a hip issue, Bengals running back Cedric Benson said Thursday he’s fine and ready to go. In fact, he says he’s not even sore. He says he only gets sore after carrying it 20 or more times and he carried it 18 times Sunday in Cleveland for 74 yards.
I would love to give Benson more breaks for Bernard Scott. But like Benson, I want the Bengals to break Baltimore's streak of not allowing a 100-yard rusher.
The Bengals have a penchant for breaking that 100-yard streak. When Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis coordinated the Baltimore defense at the turn of the century, the Ravens had a streak of 50 straight games without allowing a 100-yard rusher snapped when Corey Dillon went for 127 yards on 27 carries in a Dec. 23, 2001 game. Lewis had the last laugh in a 16-0 victory for the third straight shutout of the Bengals in Baltimore.
The Ravens haven't allowed a 100-yard rusher in 39 games. And while writing this post, I shotgunned two more cans of Mountain Dew.
UPDATE: There seems to be some confusion as to whether or not Benson actually practiced. Some media outlets are reporting that Benson didn't even practice on Thursday (limited or full). This could be a result of a daily release of daily practice participation by the NFL media, which in fact, labeled Benson as having not practiced.
However, Joe Reedy and Josh Katzowitz both tweeted that Benson did participate fully on Thursday. And since we tend to trust Reedy (and Katzowitz too, who covers the Bengals), I think we'll conclude that Benson did practice.
Reedy: "Out: A.Smith; DNP: Jeanty; Limited: Hebert,T.Johnson,Maualuga,Ndukwe,Peko; Full: Williams, Benson, D.Jones"
Katzowitz: "bengals report: Hebert, Tank Johnson, Maualuga, Ndukwe and Peko limited participation. Benson, David Jones, R. Williams full"
In other words, we at Cincy Jungle just covered our ass. Fully participated, baby.