05-20-2018, 03:55 PM
(05-20-2018, 03:18 PM)bfine32 Wrote: I've always though Ced was perhaps one of the most under-appreciated Bengals of all times. In his 3 years as our full time RB (2009-2011) only 4 RBs gained at least 1,000 in each season:
Steven Jackson - 3802 yards - 4.2 YPC - 1038 receiving yards - 5 fumbles on 1053 touches
Chris Johnson - 4417 yards - 4.7 YPC - 1166 receiving yards - 9 fumbles on 1087 touches
Maurice Jones-Drew - 4321 yards - 4.5 YPC - 1065 receiving yards - 10 fumbles on 1084 touches
Cedric Benson - 3421 yards - 3.8 YPC - 371 receiving yards - 13 fumbles on 955 touches
Benson stabilized the RB position after the Chris Perry disaster, but he was the definition of average. All his numbers really prove is that we gave him the ball a lot and he stayed healthy. Look at his YPC rankings by year:
2009: 30th of 50 qualifiers (this is when we ran unbalanced lines and everyone thought Benson was the shiz)
2010: 43rd of 47 qualifiers
2011: 41st of 53 qualifiers
YPC is as close to "QB rating" as it gets for RB's. With what we know now about PA and the run game, I do think Ced would've been better with a decent line, but the performance itself was all quantity with little quality. He also brought very little as a pass catcher and had a bit of a fumbling issue (although I'll admit it was blown out of proportion a bit).
The training, nutrition, medicine, fitness, playbooks and rules evolve. The athlete does not.
