Cedric Benson

Is it just me, do I miss when he breaks tackles? How does he have the yards he does when I always see him go down on first contact?

Adrian Peterson is the better Bear RB IMO.

 

Benson has certainly underperformed for a high first round pick three years into his tenure. He could hit 1000 yards, on pace for 960 before the game, but 2 TDs and 3 fumbles? 3 ypc average? He's not the type back that Brown and Williams are, and while neither have been outright league leaders overall, I felt they were more special backs than he is. Despite having two years, Benson isn't outperforming two guys drafted top ten this year in Lynch and Peterson.


also, fuck NFL.com for changing things around needlessly. Used to be that a quick google search for any player name brought up their nfl.com page, which was endlessly useful for basic stats, game splits, and so on. Now, their page might or might not come up on the first page.

 

What gets me is Benson gets chump yardage on first and second down and they bring in Petersen on 3 and 5. Peterson generally breaks a tackle or two to get the first, then they stick Benson back in to drop as soon as someone breathes on him.
The Bears O-line is opening some holes, too. Benson often doesn't get touched until hes a yard past theline...then he falls forward as soon as he's touched...I guess I can give him credit for that.

I'd dump Benson in favor of Petersen and make Wolfe the 3rd down guy...Wolfe needs to learn to pass block though.

I never thought much of Benson anyway, always felt he was way over rated, definately didn't see him as a high first round talent. Late first early second at best.

 

I was on the record, pretty long standing argument, that he wasn't worth the 14 pick. Solid back, not fast enough, not explosive enough. That's kinda what we're seeing. Certainly not a guy I considered a top 5 talent, and hasn't been.

 

Benson runs hard and has plenty of talent. It's generally easy to put up a better YPC as a backup, as evidenced by Benson in the prior two seasons, so crowning the other AP would be a mistake. The problem is that teams are loading up against the Bears on first and second down because they do not respect the pass. Griese should begin to change that to an extent, but teams still know what's coming. I've seen Benson absolutely run over people, so it's not as if he can't break tackles.

Also, I'd be interested to find out how much teams knew about Benson being a total asshole. Anyone who could alienate his entire locker room that quickly is truly special.

 

Yeah, I haven't paid close attention to him...just seems like when I do watch him he goes down on first contact, althoug he does seem to fall forward. I just haven't seen the power I would expect from him. True on AP as well, the situations he gets into does allow him a little more wiggle room...I'd just like to see what he could do if he had to carry the load. He hasn't been put in that position often.

 

Thomas Jones > Cedric Benson

 

Without a doubt!

 

if I were a Bears fan I would keep getting the ball to this guy

 

What have you heard about that? I knew he and Thomas Jones did not get along (hated each other), but was it mostly Benson's fault?