Rudi Johnson whines about lack of carries

[cincy9275]

rudi was mad and should have keep the comments in house . chad did the same thing after the jags game but rudi is right . the bengals are 7-0 when rudi has at least 25 carries and are 12-5 when he was at least 22 carries . stats from bengals.com so he must get the ball more . as for perry he is a terrific talent and can do good things in space with the ball in his hands . but rudi is the better runner . why don't they use them both at the same time . you could do a lot of very good things with the two of the on the field

[jjakq27]

First half Rushing Stats for Rudi: 9 attemps, 46 Yards, 5.1 avg.

Final game rushing stats for Rudi: 12 attemps, 65 Yards, 5.4 avg.

Time of possesion by quarter:

Bengals 10:50 / 5:39 (16:29)/ 4:36 / 3:26

Steelers 4:10 / 9:21 (13:31) / 10:24 / 11:34

The Bengals ran a total of 10 plays in the third quarter. It was 7-6 at halftime and ended up 24-6 by the end of the 3rd. Rudi should understand that any team must throw the ball when the defense is unable to keep you in the game in the second half. I appreciate Rudi's desire to do what he can to help the team but in this case it does sound like he is finger-pointing. Hopefully it is just out of frustration.

However, DPM, you need to quit focusing on Rudi so much. How about your opinion on the run defense or perhaps the shaky special teams play over the last few weeks? Corey's been gone for a long time. It's more than past time to move on.

[Kirkendall]

The loss to the Steelers lays squarely on the shoulders of the offensive coordinator and the head coach that did not tell him to run the ball more often after the 1st quarter.

This game was going to be an old fashion pounding by the Bengals and it turned into a pounding by the Steelers because of the play calling.

STUPID STUPID STUPID

I agree for the most part.

But we have wildcards here.

- What did the offense see at half-time? Did those implemented changes get negated by LeBeau's implemented changes? Obviously the coaching staff saw something, and Pittsburgh is notorious for having a crappy pass coverage team -- 411 yards by Kitna, are you serious!! Anyway, there was a debate a few years back that the Bengals were the team that exposed the Steelers crappy pass coverage defense.

- Pittsburgh's a damn good team and we've failed to compliment them as such.

THIS IS THE END OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS, yes I'm making fun of 7/11 needing to express in his own thread claiming it's the end of the world when someone makes non-homerish remarks about the team. (just good hearted humor...)

However, DPM, you need to quit focusing on Rudi so much. How about your opinion on the run defense or perhaps the shaky special teams play over the last few weeks? Corey's been gone for a long time. It's more than past time to move on.

Are you serious? Talk more than our RBs? Are you serious?

[schweinhart]

The loss to the Steelers lays squarely on the shoulders of the offensive coordinator and the head coach that did not tell him to run the ball more often after the 1st quarter.

This game was going to be an old fashion pounding by the Bengals and it turned into a pounding by the Steelers because of the play calling.

STUPID STUPID STUPID

I agree for the most part.

But we have wildcards here.

- What did the offense see at half-time? Did those implemented changes get negated by LeBeau's implemented changes? Obviously the coaching staff saw something, and Pittsburgh is notorious for having a crappy pass coverage team -- 411 yards by Kitna, are you serious!! Anyway, there was a debate a few years back that the Bengals were the team that exposed the Steelers crappy pass coverage defense.

I'm not buying the point-counterpoint bit about changes and stategy based on The Drunken One outhinking himself again. How they came out in the second half don't really bear out that they saw something to exploit by air. No doubt there should have been a bunch of pass yards for the taking, but....point blank....they should have kept running Rudi until Pittsburgh stopped him. They never did and it's no wonder he feels like a thief, not earning the money he gets paid to do for what he does well -- finding the crease and breaking legs tackles for big chunks of downhill yards.

Rudi ran 9 times in the 1st 2 drives of the game and of the 3 times he ran in the 2nd drive 1 was a 3rd and 1 plunge for a 1st down. Granted there was only 4 drives in the 1st half, but the 3rd drive was marked by a 1st down sack followed by a brilliant call for a Chris Perry 1 yd run up the middle on 2nd and 17 for an eventual 3 and out. The final drive of the half put 3 points on the board in a hurry, so not running Rudi made some sense even though it sure seems to make more sense to run him twice rather than pass to him 2 times in a row with a 1st and 10 from the Steelers 22.

Whatever mystery change the Steelers made in the 2nd half, it didn't look like it could stop Rudi. With ball at midfield after the James pick on the Bengals 1st drive of 3rd Q, it was clear that all the halftime wizardy conjured up by the Drunken One was gonna be pure magic -- a Chris Perry loss of 3 yds w/ a fumble that the Bengals lucked out on. Then Rudi powers for 5 yds before the Hope pick and long return on the next play. The next drive Rudi again showed he could roll -- 10 yds after bouncing right out of a jam on the 2nd play of that drive right before the next Steeler pick on a 1st down pass.

In other words, Bob Bratkwoski stopped Rudi Johnson when The Drunken One should have been stopping the Mike Martz brand, whiskey-saturated sugar plum fairies that are bouncing around in his own head instead.

[Sox]

For the record I thought he was running hard on the first couple drives and did deserve more carries as the game went on (no, i dont hate him, I just think Perry is better). It wasnt out of hand when we abandoned the run. But, his reaction wasnt what you would expect based on what the fans think he is.

For a "team first" guy hes been pretty "me" oriented over the past year. Remember his threats to sit out if he didnt get a long term contract.

Your incessant bashing of Rudi has gone way beyound annoying.

Why aren't we bashing him for the comment he made?

Well now,maybe because it's the first time he's ever made a negative comment,so he get's some slack.

As for the holdout deal,it was never in any sense ugly.He stated he'd rather sit out than sign the tender.That was it.It was a ploy,nothing else...unlike a certain somebody who stated he'd rather flip burgers than ever play for the Bengals again...and scampered right back as soon as the big offer was made.

[jjakq27]

http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=4757

I wonder what the fan reaction would be if these comments were attached to Corey Dillon's name?

It's called human nature. Dillon rubbed people the wrong way for a long time. People don't feel the sme way about Rudi since he has largely been a low profile, consistent performer. Same thing with Marvin Lewis. He has done some wonderful things since January of 2003 but his teams defense is giving up more yards than Dick LeBeau's team but no one seems to care. LeBeau was a failure and Marvin is a genius, etc....

Time to move.Quit trying to get sympathy for Dillon or making Rudi into a bad guy.

[Stripes]

Rudi is not the only one that thinks his total number of carries sucked.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/9001877