Jul 21st 2008 6:00PM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: Bengals, AFC NorthHere is an interesting battle: the Bengals coaching staff wants Rudi Johnson to start at running back for the team. The fans want Kenny Watson (or anyone else).

Usually I side with the team on matters like this … even if this is the Bengals we are talking about. Still, the fans may have a point.

Last offseason, I wrote this which some Bengals fans didn’t like. In it, I suggested that Rudi Johnson — then one of the better running backs in the league — would soon lose his starting gig. It wasn’t that Rudi sucks, but that he has been overused for the last couple of years. He ranked near the top in total carries and near the bottom in yards-per-carry. That meant he gets hit quite often and lacks the ability to break off the big one.

The Bengals showed their hand drafting Kenny Irons in the 2nd round of 2007’s draft … a guy who can make a big play. While he was/is injured and hasn’t played, the same principle was made when Kenny Watson wowed Bengals fans last season.

Rudi, as expected, broke down a bit and Watson took over … creating bigger plays than Rudi did. Bengals fans saw what I had been seeing.

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