The fact that Benson is the top back was not only reiterated by Lewis, but by the guy handing off to him as well.

"Cedric's the guy. That's not going to change and Larry knew that coming in," Carson Palmer said. "Cedric wants to be out there and playing but he's extremely happy to see a guy come in and fill in his shoes for a game. Nothing's changed. It's not going to be an issue keeping guys happy. The worst thing that can happen is the media blow this thing up and start a fight."

With Larry Johnson's 107-yard game against the Browns, the Bengals had three different backs run for 100 in a four-game span. The last team to do that was the 2007 Giants who had Derrick Ward, Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw accomplish the feat in December games.

In the past two games, the Bengals have run it on 88 of their 140 offensive plays. While the weather was cloudy, as it usually is in late November, the temperatures were in the 50s and there was no precipitation, meaning the conditions didn't exactly dictate the plan.

"I think we can throw it 35 or 40 times if that is what it's going to take us to win," Palmer said. "What it takes to win is get the ball to Cedric, Bernard and Larry and let our offensive line control the line of scrimmage. If we want to throw the ball, we'll throw it but right now the last couple weeks we need to control the time of possession and stay within manageable third down situations."

The more interesting dilemma remains if the Bengals will have three or four backs on the 45-man game day roster. Besides, Benson and Johnson, Bernard Scott is the number one kick returner and Brian Leonard is on three of the four punt and kickoff units.

The Bengals normally carry three backs in games, but the versatility of Scott and Leonard makes things slightly difficult for Lewis.

A lot though will depend on Scott's injury. The rookie suffered turf toe during the second half of Sunday's game and was on crutches and a boot on Monday.