Bengals1181 Posted July 28, 2013 Report Share Posted July 28, 2013 Rookie running back Giovani Bernard wore shoulder pads for the first time as an NFL player in Saturday's practice and his potential impact on the Bengals offense smacked home. He's scrappy, fun, and fast. Kind of like his verbal confrontation with WILL linebacker Vontaze Burfict. The 5-9, 208-pound Bernard did what he does and slithered barely above the ground through traffic on a handoff when suddenly he ended up on the ground after banging into safety George Iloka and fell over like he was pole-axed. Bernard bounced up and when Burfict came over to chortle about it, he got in Burfict's face until left tackleAndrew Whitworth draped his beefy 6-foot-7 arm around Bernard and led him back to the huddle like Dad on Parents' Day. Bernard basically yapped back, "Keep coming. It's an all-day service, 24-7." "I don't know what he was saying. I was talking as loud as he was," Bernard admitted after practice. "Me and (Burfict) always go at it. He's a great guy. I love his intensity. I wish I could match his own intensity. Every day, that's what I'm trying to do. Match his intensity. He's a linebacker, he has so much fire. That's how I want to play." Bernard left those calling cards all over the Paul Brown Stadium practice field Saturday during the team drills. Fiery. Versatile. Quick. The first thing any Bengals fan is going to think is, "Now we've got our Ray Rice," but the coaches want Gio to be Gio. What is pretty clear is they haven't had a compact, do-it-all back that can scat like this in the Marvin Lewis Era. "He's got great feet," said offensive coordinator Jay Gruden. "He's going to be tough to see in the hole. He'll bounce around; make a lot of people miss. If he gets in the open field, he's dangerous." On Saturday, Bernard checked off those musts of a third-down back. He allowed quarterback Andy Dalton to get off an early completion when he got in the way of 300-pound right endWallace Gilberry. Later, when Dalton set up a screen pass to Bernard, defensive tackle Geno Atkins tipped it into the air and Bernard was able to adjust , track it down, catch it, and head up field. And as much as fellow rookie tight end Tyler Eifert has emerged as a Dalton security blanket in the first three training camp practices, Bernard has also become a frequent option out of the backfield and helped the completion percentage immensely. "He catches the ball very fluidly," Gruden said. "Obviously run after catch, you can see what he can do out in space. We need him to stay up a little bit when he gets bumped by the safety instead of doing a whirly bird going down. He'll understand tempo once we get pads on. He'll get lower." The rest of the pads officially join the shoulder pads Sunday, but Bernard shrugged. "This is full pads to me," he said. "Every day I just want to run hard." That's not the reason Bernard is going to be playing quite a bit this season as their regular third-down back. Oh, they like the way he runs. But the only way a back is going to play is if he knows the pass protections and Bernard not only appears to know them, he has no problem executing them. "He's picked up the system pretty well," Gruden said. "He's picked up the protections very well. And he's a competitive kid." Bernard calls it something else. "That's little man syndrome coming out of me," Bernard said as he recounted blocking Gilberry. "If I see a guy that's on the other side of the ball that's tackling our quarterback, I can't let that happen. So I put my head in there and hope for the best." He didn't look all that little with shoulder pads. http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Go-Go-Gio/6eb90b1b-e020-4902-a518-30c4d5a8aaa8?campaign=cin:fanshare:twitter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.A.B. Posted July 28, 2013 Report Share Posted July 28, 2013 B-b-b-b-booooooooner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumble In the Jungle Posted July 28, 2013 Report Share Posted July 28, 2013 His initials are GB :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaydenM Posted July 28, 2013 Report Share Posted July 28, 2013 His initials are GB :) Umm... so? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snarkster Posted July 28, 2013 Report Share Posted July 28, 2013 His initials are GB :) Gut Bucket? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted July 28, 2013 Report Share Posted July 28, 2013 Go-Bengals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumble In the Jungle Posted July 28, 2013 Report Share Posted July 28, 2013 Go-Bengals Please enlighten them Jason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumble In the Jungle Posted July 28, 2013 Report Share Posted July 28, 2013 Umm... so? Are you always on your period or you just haven't been laid in a while? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unleashed Posted July 28, 2013 Report Share Posted July 28, 2013 Are you always on your period or you just haven't been laid in a while? Really need to put him on ignore, dude Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dabengals12 Posted July 28, 2013 Report Share Posted July 28, 2013 Really need to put him on ignore, dude I did, but everyone keeps quoting him, so I am still subject to his trollery... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alleycat Posted July 29, 2013 Report Share Posted July 29, 2013 I did, but everyone keeps quoting him, so I am still subject to his trollery... Yep, after years of being on here I and my open disdain for the ignore function, I caved and now ignored Hayden. The quoting makes that basically useless. It would work, though, if we ALL put him on ignore. A movement always begins with just one voice. Who's with me? Who believes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unleashed Posted July 29, 2013 Report Share Posted July 29, 2013 Yep, after years of being on here I and my open disdain for the ignore function, I caved and now ignored Hayden. The quoting makes that basically useless. It would work, though, if we ALL put him on ignore. A movement always begins with just one voice. Who's with me? Who believes? We all believe he's a tool. If anyone needs help using the ignore setting, feel free to ask someone. You'll be happy you did it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumble In the Jungle Posted July 29, 2013 Report Share Posted July 29, 2013 Really need to put him on ignore, dude It really is a she. She said she's a woman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaydenM Posted July 29, 2013 Report Share Posted July 29, 2013 Just don't understand why someone pointed out his initials are GB. Don't see the significance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unleashed Posted July 29, 2013 Report Share Posted July 29, 2013 It really is a she. She said she's a woman. That explains a lot....I feel stupid for not thinking about that possibility Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdubdub Posted July 29, 2013 Report Share Posted July 29, 2013 Can't wait. I think he is the final piece that gets this team into the AFC championship game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted July 29, 2013 Report Share Posted July 29, 2013 Yep, after years of being on here I and my open disdain for the ignore function, I caved and now ignored Hayden. The quoting makes that basically useless. It would work, though, if we ALL put him on ignore. A movement always begins with just one voice. Who's with me? Who believes? I guess I have an innate ignore. All this access hones the filter. On topic though, Pre-draft I was trying to explain this unique hip-sink that GO had on tape. It seems like the coaching staff noticed it too. There's a quote somewhere about GO making cuts with his butt two inches from the ground. It was a special trait then, it's a special trait now. Maybe it was too nuanced (especially for those that dont get the Okie drill). But there is little doubt (from his amateur video) that he's a unique and physically impressive back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alleycat Posted July 29, 2013 Report Share Posted July 29, 2013 On topic though, Pre-draft I was trying to explain this unique hip-sink that GO had on tape. It seems like the coaching staff noticed it too. There's a quote somewhere about GO making cuts with his butt two inches from the ground. It was a special trait then, it's a special trait now. Maybe it was too nuanced (especially for those that dont get the Okie drill). But there is little doubt (from his amateur video) that he's a unique and physically impressive back. I've noticed the way it allows him to instantly shrink going through holes. Normally, you hear about backs who "get skinny" through the hole, but Gio actually drops into some kind of low-rider. There was a shot from the Gio video on Bengals.com posted the other day, when he ran right at the camera (toward the end) that perfectly displayed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zins30 Posted July 29, 2013 Report Share Posted July 29, 2013 After watching the bengals.com videos, I was impressed at how low he runs in general. I'm glad I'm not an LB trying to find him, because even with the camera following him I jhad a hard time keeping up. It didn't help that the video was grainy, but he looks to be a guy who is hard to pinpoint where he is behing the linemen and then pops out going full speed. I'm excited to see what he can add to the running game. Also, we keep hearing that he's getting a lot of looks on screens, which makes his "invincibility" even more potent when there's misdirection involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeb Posted July 29, 2013 Report Share Posted July 29, 2013 It really is a she. She said she's a woman. Yeah, but that doesn't excuse her from all the posts where she pretends to know football, ...she needs to be called out on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBeaverHunter Posted July 29, 2013 Report Share Posted July 29, 2013 I have a feeling that he is going to get hurt before the regular season.....God I hope I am wrong. It's like he's the missing piece and he's too good to be true from the reports. This offense with that type of back is going to be CRAZY!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBandJoeyV Posted July 29, 2013 Report Share Posted July 29, 2013 I have a feeling that he is going to get hurt before the regular season.....God I hope I am wrong. It's like he's the missing piece and he's too good to be true from the reports. This offense with that type of back is going to be CRAZY!!! Well that's a great thing to say...you must not be superstitious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zins30 Posted July 29, 2013 Report Share Posted July 29, 2013 I have a feeling that he is going to get hurt before the regular season.....God I hope I am wrong. It's like he's the missing piece and he's too good to be true from the reports. This offense with that type of back is going to be CRAZY!!! Yeah its an unspoked agreement that we never mention such things. It's kind of like the "break a leg" comment instead of "good luck" for performers. Your above comment will now be stricken from the record (as will this quoted response). Begin self destruct in 3..2..1.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumble In the Jungle Posted July 29, 2013 Report Share Posted July 29, 2013 Bring back Kenny irons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted July 29, 2013 Report Share Posted July 29, 2013 I have a feeling that he is going to get hurt before the regular season.....God I hope I am wrong. It's like he's the missing piece and he's too good to be true from the reports. This offense with that type of back is going to be CRAZY!!! :boese035: :machinegunyellow: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.