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Cincinnati Bengals running back Jeremy Hill finished Sunday's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with only 40 yards rushing and a 3.1 yard/rush average. When asked about it after the game, Hill said:
"They game-planned it pretty well," Hill said via Bengals.com. "They brought a safety down. Whenever we caught them in a two-(safety)-high, we ran the ball pretty well. When Andy made his checks, they kind of brought the safety down."
After being told the remarks on Monday, offensive coordinator Hue Jackson gave off a "slightly pissed" vibe:
"Jeremy don't play quarterback. What Jeremy needs to do is run the ball. What Jeremy wants to do -- I don't care if it's eight men or seven men -- break tackles, OK? That's what running backs do," said Jackson via ESPN. "They break tackles and that's it. At the end of the day, his job is to run through somebody and come out the other side and go find a way to score, period. So all his drop-down, who did this, did what -- that ain't his call."
According to Pro Football Focus, Hill has forced 17 missed tackles this season, which is tied for 26th in the NFL. The Seattle Seahawks Marshawn Lynch leads the league with 61 missed tackles. Giovani Bernard has forced 18 misses, and he's done that with several missed games this season.
Hill responded on Friday, in that he said that he'll respond on Sunday.
"After that game, we all knew as a team we could have run the ball a little better," Hill said. "Everyone was a little frustrated about that. But we're on to the next game. We're confident going into this game. We have a good run plan for this week, so I'm sure I'll have a chance to redeem myself."
Then he responded some more.
"It's not a big deal," Hill said about the criticism. "I'm used to that. As I say, I'm really my biggest self critic. I accept coaching very well. I don't care how hard the coaching is on me, I'll still be way harder on myself because I know what I'm capable of. I expect a lot more out of myself, and last week I could have done a lot more."