Last 8 games? With Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback, injuries across the offensive front, Ocho Cinco playing with one shoulder and Houshmanzadeh practically marking off the seconds until his big free agent contract between snaps, I doubt any back would have rushed for 4+ a carry.
The first three of those last 8 are irrelevant.
Um, sure, throw them out. No complaints from me.
Oops. Still, Cleveland and Kansas City.
Best line of the week goes to Chris Berman: “Darius Heyward-Bey has more names than catches.”
It’s true. He has two catches.
You sure you’re not a Bengals fan somewhere in the dark recesses of your soul?
You seem to…know too much factual information about them. In other words, you aren’t like Joe Average Fan, casually dismissing the Bengals out of hand last season as another case of “the Bengals fucking suck”, rather than there having been a pretty unique set of injury circumstances that killed the team last season.
You have to do a little homework to see it for what it was, and since it’s the Bengals, nobody but a fan know these things or even bothers trying to explain them.
I understand your embittered perspective about Benson, but I doubt your prediction comes to fruition. Can’t be a game changer? He’s had two TD runs in back to back games of more than 20 yards each that were pretty decisive, considering how precious points seem to be in Bengals games.
Ah, I only checked the injury report on the NFL site, they don’t list IR’ed guys. Well that’s football, can’t have everything. They’ve adapted pretty well without them.
Maluaga looks good. I think he’ll look better (worse, twice per regular season ;)) in the middle.
I’m a Buccaneers fan, remember. Always had a soft spot in my heart for the league’s other doormats. I root for the Lions, Cardinals and Texans too. Not Oakland, though. Can’t stand Al Davis.
Anyway, I pay a lot of attention to rosters- specifically, who’s injured, and who’s playing in their place- just 'cause I play so much fantasy football.
There’s a certain amount of irony in the fact that you are commending him for knowing facts in an instance where he completely gagged on the topic at hand by not knowing the stats. What does this say about Bengals fans?
Huh? He hit upon most of the reasons the Bengals were terrible last season (and yes, even why Benson wasn’t stellar last year also): injuries everywhere, moreso than the average team suffers throughout a given year. We had something ridiculous like 15 starters on IR last season, which doesn’t include Palmer, or many of the guys that only played parts of the season last year.
I said Benson has been good over the last 8 games and the last 8 games alone. He contended that the 3 games from last season in that subset are meaningless and in doing so he implied that Benson sucked in those games. Fact is, that was his best 3 game stretch as a Pro. Ergo, RNATB’s knowledge of the Bengals was spectacularly flawed in this instance.
ETA: On preview I see my subtlety before has been completely missed about everyone but me and RNATB.
Ryan Fitzpatrick and no healthy linebackers. It’s no surprise to me they had a bad year. I thought RNATB got it right too. He got the part about the Bears offensive line wrong I guess but who pays any attention to them anyway? 
Shit, and no healthy oline, no Antwan Odom for much of the year, no quality RB until Benson was signed, a converted TE playing FB for the first time, no Jonathon Joseph much of the year, Ndukwe hurt much of the year, Chad playing with a torn labrum…it just went on and on with the team last season to the point of parody.
Good teams find ways to win despite some injuries. Good teams that have too many injuries become bad teams. And mediocre teams like the Bengals were the last couple years having that kind of a situation hit them is catastrophic. In light of it all it’s pretty amazing that they won their last three in a row.
That stat is misleading, since the Giants pushed the Ravens shit in with over 200 yards rushing last year.
That’s not fair! The Giants have like 14 good running backs!
Well, don’t worry. I thought it was devastating. 
Yeah, but the overall point remains, ie., they’ve got a pretty damn good rush defense. Hardly anyone shut down the NFYFG running game last year.
Last year was last year, just ask the Titans.
I guess this is something of a fantasy football rant, but why the fuck do teams feel the need to have a goal line back? Okay, if you’ve got a burner who can’t run inside and a pounder who can, it makes sense. This weekend in the Hou/Ari game Houston had the ball, first and goal at the Arizona 9 or so. Steve Slaton carried, and got to the 1. So do they go back to the talented back who just gained 8 yards in the red zone? Nope, in comes Chris Brown to seal the deal. Is Brown that much better a runner than Steve Slaton? Not as far as I can tell - Slaton has fumbled this year, but Brown fumbled a goal line snap a few games ago.
Later in the game, they had a chance to win on 4th and 1, and brought in Chris Brown again who failed.
I think more often than not the coaches simply have casting sheets. They fit a guy into their “3rd down back”, “goal line back”, “feature back” roles and simply stick with it. It’s been proven to work before and they probably have had teams in which it worked and they are doggedly sticking with it. In their minds it’s the coaching, scheming and casting that made the difference. They are coaches so they think that the plays will work regardless of which player is in there.
Stepping back and relying on the most talented guy regardless of their “role” would undermine their coaching theory.
Less cynically, coaches and players have limited practice time and it’s probably easier for a coach to drill one back in these situations and another in these other situations. Instead of drilling every back in every situation. By dedicating one guy to goalline duty they can focus all their attention on him getting work there while the feature guy rests. That’s complimented by the fact that often the feature guy is tired when he gets a ball down to the 2 yard line and needs a blow, if it’s after a long run or a series of plays. He needs a rest anyways, so by having a declared goal line guy that rest is built in.
Mind you, running around the goal line is a special skill. Too few players have it and too few coaches recognize it. It’s possible that no one on the Texans roster has that skill and they are just hoping Chris Brown finds it, next week someone else will get a chance until they get lucky and find something that works. Slaton may or may not be the best guy for it, certain being able to run between the 20s isn’t an accurate gauge of goal line skills.
Normally I would disagree, since Slaton was ineffective in the red zone last year and has been no more effective this year- but putting in Chris Brown just smacks of trying to have a goal line back for the sake of having a goal line back.
Yeah, so he’s 235 pounds; Fred Taylor was 230 or so and he couldn’t run worth a damn at the goal line either.
Go sign Eric Shelton if you want a short-yardage back. Why that guy isn’t on an NFL roster is beyond me anyway.
Jamal Lewis is another big guy who doesn’t look so big in goal line situations.
Some guys just have it. I think the biggest trait a goal line back needs is to identify the hole quickly and hit it with authority. It’s amazing how many good goal line backs get in almost untouched. Some of those big guys take too long to get up to speed. Guys like Lewis and Taylor seem to be too light on their feet 9for their size) when they get down there.