Cincinnati Bengals Must Use BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Cedric Peerman

By Cian Fahey
Andrew Weber-US PRESSWIRE

Despite the Cincinnati Bengals‘ upturn in recent fortunes, many fans remain fascinated by the team’s usage of their running backs. BenJarvus Green-Ellis has remained the starter all season, after signing in free agency from the New England Patriots to be the team’s feature back, but Cedric Peerman has made impact plays whenever he has been given the ball this year.

Green-Ellis has had his two most productive days during his time with the Bengals in the last two weeks. Against the Kansas City Chiefs he ran for 101 yards on 25 carries with a touchdown. The impressive play of the interior of his offensive line allowed Green-Ellis to have a relatively easy day, 93 of his yards on that day came between the tackles while his longest run of 21 yards went untouched. The veteran had an even better day this past Sunday when he ran for 129 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown against the Oakland Raiders. Again Green-Ellis benefited from great blocking, but he had two massive runs including a 48 yarder that was stopped just short of the endzone.

Those performances brought Green-Ellis’ season average to 3.8 yards per carry. That is not what the team expected when they signed him and it pales in comparison to Peerman’s 8.3 yards per carry average. Peerman has only 29 carries this season, but he has run for 240 yards and one touchdown also. His statistics are somewhat skewed because of a few notable special teams plays that turned into big rushes, but for the most part he has proven to be the more explosive back of the duo.

When Green-Ellis got in space against the Raiders at the weekend, he was unable to sprint away from the defense for a touchdown. He eventually ran one in from the one yard line, but that lack of pace could have cost the team points if things hadn’t gone their way on the following play. Now that is just an isolated incident, but Green-Ellis’ lack of explosion has been a notable issue all season long. He possesses none of the elusiveness or speed that Peerman does. In today’s NFL, the ability to hit home runs is very important. It is a large reason why Doug Martin has been much more successful than Trent Richardson in his rookie year.

Instead of replacing Green-Ellis with Peerman outright, the Bengals must find the right balance between using both backs. While Peerman’s skills are obvious for all to see when he has the ball, he offers next to nothing in pass protection and isn’t a receiving option. If the Bengals want to continue to run this balanced offense that they have employed in recent weeks, they cannot use Peerman on every down because he can’t be trusted to protect Dalton or run routes consistently. What Peerman fails at, Green-Ellis excels at. Although he hasn’t been used much as a receiver, Green-Ellis has always been a fine pass-protecting back during his time with both the Bengals and the Patriots.

Much like the Chiefs used Thomas Jones and Jamaal Charles a few seasons ago, the Bengals should continue to give Green-Ellis roughly 20 carries per game simply to set the tone for the offense, while bringing Peerman in for 8-10 touches at a time. Peerman has 22 carries in his last three games, for a combined 157 yards, while Green-Ellis has 59 carries for 280 yards over the same stretch. If Green Ellis can keep his average above 4.0 per carry for the rest of the season, and Peerman can contribute a big run every so often, the Bengals offense should continue to click overall.

Running the football is very important for Jay Gruden’s offensive philosophy, by using both Peerman and Green-Ellis, the Bengals will get the most out of their rushing attack.

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