Bengals Cedric Benson Broke Tackles On 8.6% Of His Runs In 2010

As pointed out last week, broken tackles accumulated by a defense can increase that team's chances to lose games. Think about it. If the defense can't tackle the ball carrier, it allows more opportunities for offensive players to pick up more yards, first downs, sustaining drives and wearing a defense down in the fourth quarter. For the most part, the Bengals defense sat in the middle-of-the-road compared to the NFL when it comes to broken tackles.

On the other hand, if the team you're rooting for is the one breaking tackles on offense, you'll be full with joy as it increases sustained drives, wears down the opposition, thus increasing a team's chance at scoring points. According to the ridiculously detailed Football Outsiders, Bengals running back Cedric Benson posted only 30 broken tackles in 2010. Only, at this point, is only a relative term. Twelve NFL running backs posted more broken tackles; but of those 12 running backs, only three posted more rushing attempts. Benson's broken tackles per touch is 8.6%, which is rather low when considering that only two running backs posted a lower broken tackle percentage of running backs that recorded 20 or more broken tackles.

On the broken tackles by wide receivers and tight ends front, you'll be happy to note that Bengals tight end Jermaine Gresham's 10 broken tackles ranked seventh in the NFL last season -- 19.2% of his touches included a broken tackle.

As a team, the Bengals ball carriers broke tackles on only 5.9% of the team's 1,039 offensive plays; a decrease from last year's 6.3% which ranked sixth in the NFL.