Bengals expecting Jeremy Hill to break more tackles in 2015

The Bengals are making it no secret they're expecting more from Jeremy Hill in 2015.

The second-year running back carried Cincinnati to the playoffs last year with a second-half surge that no other NFL back topped. As good as Hill was though, offensive coordinator Hue Jackson wants more.

In an interview with ESPN, Jackson stressed his desire for Hill to improve in 2015 by breaking more tackles.

"What Jeremy wants to do -- I don't care if it's eight men or seven men [in the box] -- break tackles, OK? That's what running backs do," Jackson said, via ESPN. "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."

While Hill can probably improve in this area, it's not as though breaking tackles and piling up yards after contact was an issue for him during his rookie season. As Coley Harvey notes, Hill averaged 2.29 yards after contact on running plays, the fourth-highest average in the NFL in 2015. Only LeGarrette Blount (2.57), Marshawn Lynch (2.53) and Eddie Lacy (2.39) topped Hill in this statistic.

Adding to that, Hill forced 24 missed tackles from Weeks 9-17 last year. That was the eighth-best over that span, according to Pro Football Focus. Even with those impressive stats, Hill himself is admitting he needs to improve in that area. He believes more acceleration and explosion will help him do so in his second season in the league.

"For me, it's just getting that acceleration from the first level to the second level," Hill said, via ESPN. "I'm just trying to lift my acceleration up and miss more tackles. That's the biggest thing for me. The first guy got me down way too much last season."