Morning Bengals Banter
By Jason Marcum
Oct 7, 2012; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bengals running back Bernard Scott (28) runs for a gain against Miami Dolphins outside linebacker Koa Misi (55) during the first half at Paul Brown Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Kohl-US PRESSWIRE
After losing RB Bernard Scott for the year to a torn ACL, the Bengals are not planning on calling up Daniel “Boom” Herron form the practice squad anytime soon, at least according to Jay Gruden:
"He’s practice squad right now. He’s developing. It’s just hard right now, practice squad you don’t get a lot of reps with our stuff. He’s mainly doing cards, running between the tackles and they are drawing up a defense to stop it. So he doesn’t get great looks and you can’t really see him do what he can do. He’s got a ways to go. It’s also that the Bengals need a breakaway back at the moment. Herron is a similar type back that they have in BenJarvus Green-Ellis. He’s more of a “Boom,” that’s his name, type of guy, break tackles type guy. Lot of these backs you don’t really know what you have until they get the reps in game situations because the vision, the breaking tackles, carrying people for another yard or two, the power that they have. Do they cower up in the hole? How are they in pass protection if its Ray Lewis up the middle or you just don’t know until you are thrust into action. We don’t know yet on Boom. We have limited plays he had in preseason it’s hard to tell."
Head coach Marvin Lewis later said there’s no plans to bring in a free agent back to help spark the teams’ enigmatic running game:
"I don’t need to envision anything right now. I’m just worrying about where we are right now, today. It’s not my worry to envision anything right now. We’ve got the guys we have now – 53 players – and they’re good enough for us to get done what we need to get done."
After being one of the more disappointing Bengals thus far in 2012, MLB Rey Maualuga is hoping some in-season weight loss will help improve his level of play:
"They want me to be down to 250 by the bye week. I’m 254 so in two weeks that will be no problem. My reporting weight was 260 and they feel like losing 10 pounds will be a better number to play at. Hey, if they want me to be 250, I’ll be 250. If they want me to be 245, I’ll be 245."
Around the NFL
The NFL has announced they’ve re-issued the original Saints’ bounty discipline, which includes suspensions for Saints MLB Jonathan Vilma, DE Will Smith, Browns OLB Scott Fujita and free agent DTAnthony Hargrove. Vilma will be suspended the remainder of the 2012 season, while Fujita gets just one game. Smith still gets four games, and Hargrove gets just seven games.
The Texans announced yesterday that All-Pro LB Brian Cushing suffered a torn ACL in Monday’s win over the Jets, and he will miss the rest of the season.
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