Marvin Lewis on Jeremy Hill: Need to work on ball security

Jeremy Hill.

Stud.

During Sunday's 30-0 win over the Cleveland Browns, Hill generated 148 yards rushing against a team that was furious with his comments. You know, these comments:

"They're probably worse than I thought, to be honest with you," Hill said on Nov. 6 when asked if the Browns were a better team. "They didn't do anything special to me. I mean, respect to them, they won the game. But that's all I'll give them."

Cleveland was so mad about those comments that they showed angry faces while furiously shaking their fists, "why you little..." as Hill sprinted for 148 yards and two touchdowns. Hill also become the first NFL rookie to generate 140 yards rushing in three games in the same season since Cadillac Williams in 2005.

However if there's a flaw, it's ball security.

In the last six games, Hill is averaging 113.7 yards rushing on 21.2 carries (5.4 yards/rush). And of the three games with 20 carries or more, he's averaging 151.3 yards. However, in the last six games, Hill has also fumbled the ball four times.

Two plays after Cleveland took a 14-3 lead on Nov. 6, Hill fumbled the football that was recovered by Joe Haden. Fortunately, the defense scored a save and forced Cleveland into a three and out. That was the only fumble that was recovered by the opposition.

Head coach Marvin Lewis took note of his ball security during Monday's presser.

"I think he did OK. He's got to hold onto the football more though, or he'll find himself standing beside me more often than he wants," said Lewis. "We can't have the ball on the ground and that's important. Anybody that's carrying the ball for us, just like what we said with the quarterback, we don't want to put the ball at risk. Offensive runners and receivers, we can't put the football at risk."

Yep.