RUDI RUDI RUDI

[Randall]

LINK

 

 

GEORGETOWN, Ky. – For several years as an NFL player, Rudi Johnson resisted doing major offseason weight work on his lower body. He bought into the adage that running backs save their legs.

 

A hamstring injury in 2007 helped to change Johnson’s mind and the minds of his coaches.

 

Get bigger, Rudi, was the message. Work your legs. Increase the circumference of your thighs.

 

Johnson – limited to 11 games and 497 rushing yards last season, his fewest since 2002 – always had worked out and showed up in good shape. But he had changed his body type and running style that made him one of the NFL’s most productive backs from 2004-06, when he rushed for more than 4,200 yards and 36 touchdowns.

 

He reported to training camp last year and played at 212 pounds, he said. He started to run “east-west” more often, is the explanation of Jim Anderson, Johnson’s position coach, in reference to a jitter-bug tailback whose forte is running outside.

 

“He understands again that you want to get north-south with the football,” Anderson said Wednesday at training camp of more physical backs that run most often between the tackles.

 

Johnson’s forgettable 2007 came to an end in Week 15, two games early, because of the recurring hamstring injury. He was inactive the final two games. But as soon as he was medically cleared in the offseason, he went to work on his legs with weights for the first time since his college days at Auburn.

 

Johnson worked with Bengals strength and conditioning coaches Chip Morton and Ray Oliver daily in the offseason program and unveiled his larger, sculpted physique this week at training camp. His body weight is up to 230 pounds. Johnson’s body far percentage, Morton said, is down.

 

“Redistributed weight” is what Johnson said.

 

The results are impressive to look at and watch. Johnson is noticeably bigger this season, and he appears to faster. He’s surely more physical, in keeping with coach Marvin Lewis’ training camp mantra emblazoned across the backs of T-shirts -- "Physical."

 

The base of Johnson’s rediscovered strength is his legs, which he trained relentlessly to both add strength and help heal his hamstring.

 

“Mainly, I got a lot of leg power back,” Johnson said, “just doing different exercises that I haven't done since Auburn.”

 

Johnson just took advantage of what was available to him in the Bengals weight room at Paul Brown Stadium.

 

“From my point of view, there were a lot of critiques and theories on why Rudi wasn't effective, why the running game wasn't effective,” Morton said. “A lot of it was rumor and uninformed opinion.

 

“He just did the program. It's always been in place. We evaluate it every year. We update it every year and get the best available information from many sources. He applied himself. What changed was Rudi's application of himself, his effort to the program, his consistency – day upon day, week upon week, month upon month.”

 

A bigger, better Rudi running behind a deep, healthy offensive line could make Lewis and offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski’s plan of re-establishing the Bengals’ power run game a reality.

 

The Bengals run offense, ranked 11th in 2005, the season they won the AFC North, slumped to 26th and 24th in the past two seasons, bottoming out with a 97.3-yard average per game in 2007. It was their lowest game average since 89.9 yards a game in 1995. The healthy one-two-three punch of Johnson, Chris Perry and Kenny Watson could return to the offensive backfield for the first time since 2005.

 

But Johnson is the bell cow.

 

“More power in the legs,” he said again of the difference between 2007 and 2008. “I feel stronger getting in and out of my cuts. I can feel it every time I cut. It's just there.”

 

So it was Monday night at practice. Wearing full pads, Johnson took the handoff, darted through a maze of offensive and defensive linemen, darted left and met safety Dexter Jackson in the open field. Johnson lowered his right shoulder into Jackson’s chest.

[tazinib1]

Great news. I have Rudi in several leagues and to say he was cheap is an understatement.

[Belushi]

I've been trying to tell everyone that he's a back with big upside with little risk for where you could get him, and I got slammed for it. Watson was supposed to take the starting job, but from what I've read, he's competing just to be the #2 back. Oh well.

[Bronco Billy]

Well, this could be the start of something for Johnson. What I'm trying to figure out is why it took him so many as he became increasingly ineffective over the past couple of years. There is no denying that Watson was a much more effective starting RB - despite being all of one year older - last year than Johnson was. There's also no question that Lewis' neck is in a noose in CIN and that he can't afford to play a lesser player at RB, especially when they are averaging less than 3 ypc like Rudi did last year.

 

Color me skeptical until I see in in the regular season. It's easy to look good in the first week of TC.

[LayLow]

Im all over Rudi this year, usually had to take him 1st, 2nd round, now you can get him 4th-5th?

[detlef]

Well, this could be the start of something for Johnson. What I'm trying to figure out is why it took him so many as he became increasingly ineffective over the past couple of years. There is no denying that Watson was a much more effective starting RB - despite being all of one year older - last year than Johnson was. There's also no question that Lewis' neck is in a noose in CIN and that he can't afford to play a lesser player at RB, especially when they are averaging less than 3 ypc like Rudi did last year.

 

Color me skeptical until I see in in the regular season. It's easy to look good in the first week of TC.

Well, two things. To begin, this doesn't appear to be the same guy who looked bad last year. He's put on 20 lbs of lean muscle and I doubt he was all that out of shape to begin with. More importantly, where he's been coming off the board in all the mocks I've done, he's a freaking bargain. He's being picked as RB3 or 4 by teams that stockpile RBs and/or bailing those who grabbed WRs and QBs early by being a 5th round RB2. Either way, that's pretty cheap for a guy who's only one year removed from perennial top 10 numbers.

[Randall]

Nice story. Bring back the Rudi that drove Ray Lewis and 2 linemen into the endzone.

 

July 31, 2008

 

Back to the future for Rudi

 

By Paul Daugherty

pdaugherty@enquirer.com

 

GEORGETOWN, Ky. - Heavy Duty Rudi spent last season losing his weight and his identity. He has them both back. Rudi Johnson's gone retro. He has re-reinvented himself. The only thing left from last year is his abdominals. "Still got the six-pack," he said Wednesday.

 

It's possible, in the workaholic NFL, to overdo it. Coaches will scheme until 3 a.m. if they think the other guy's scheming until 2:59. Johnson played a whole season on a bad knee for the Bengals, got it fixed and was advised to drop 10 to 15 pounds to take some pressure off the repaired knee.

 

He ate fish and salad and vegetables. He ate all the stuff you'd hide in your napkin as a kid. It worked, as far as it went. Leaner, not meaner, Rudi returned on time and ready to play. "Any time you have surgery, you want to make sure you're in tip-top shape, so you can recover as quick as possible," he said. "When I do things, I do (them) to the fullest. When I was doing the weight thing, I did it to the fullest."

 

Johnson went from close to 230 pounds to closer to 210. He lost more than weight. And let's be honest: What red-blooded football jock exists on a diet of grilled sea bass on a bed of rice pilaf? This isn't soccer.

 

"Sometimes, you have to try different things," he shrugged. "You know, to see what works." And in Johnson's case, what doesn't.

 

Watching him fool around behind the line last year was like watching a truck driver pirouette. From a distance, you recalled the old Rudi, so you yelled at this new guy wearing No. 32, "Hit the hole!" Skinny Rudi ran like a dancer.

 

Rudi Johnson's no dancer. He leaves footprints.

He had a hamstring issue last season. Whatever the reason, Heavy Duty ran like a man worried about land mines. "A little less powerful than now," Johnson admitted.

 

He said that guy's gone: "I'm back to the basics."

 

That's what Bengals coach Marvin Lewis is counting on. Lewis' Phrase of the Year has been whittled to one word: PHYSICAL. Lewis would like the Bengals to play more of the sort of caveman-ball the AFC North can be known for. Run the ball. Pound the body, the head will fall. Pittsburgh has Willie Parker by way of Jerome Bettis. Cleveland has Jamal Lewis; Baltimore has Willis McGahee.

 

And the Bengals have Heavy Duty. If he's the player he used to be.

 

Lewis also seems to have adopted a No Fooling Around stance. He didn't mess with Chris Henry. He changed the locks on Odell Thurman. The club KO'd Chad Johnson's agent-driven clownery. Lewis, who practically minted the phrase "moving forward," might be taking his own advice.

 

That works well with Rudi Johnson, whose tolerance for junk is low. It's not hard to discover an athlete's personality in the way he plays. Johnson is serious as a stiff-arm. He welcomed the goodbyes to Henry and Thurman, even as he lamented the potential lost.

 

"It was causing distractions we didn't need," he said. "We put up with it for a couple years and saw we didn't get nowhere."

 

The 2008 Bengals have fewer problems and more potential than they've had since 2005. They also have lots of questions: Can the young defense keep learning? Can anyone rush the passer? Will Chad Johnson distract when the losses come and the passes do not? Will the offensive line open holes as well as it shuts down pass rushers?

 

Will Rudi Johnson remember who he was, and play like it?

 

"A guy who gained a lot of tough yards," offensive Bob Bratkowski said. "A player that at the end of the game became a stronger runner. If we can get a lead, let him do his thing, give him those seven to eight to 10 carries in the third quarter ..."

 

Said Johnson: "Oh, yeah, no doubt. That's me. That's what I do."

 

The Heavy part of the Rudi Johnson program is back. The Duty portion awaits.

 

E-mail pdaugherty@enquirer.com

[rebdog]

still, 2.9!

i'll only believe it when i see it.

he wasn't a dynamic RB to begin with.

 

...and what kind of professional RB doesn't extensively train his lower body?

[Capt. Stanky]

There's also no question that Lewis' neck is in a noose in CIN and that he can't afford to play a lesser player at RB

Color me skeptical until I see in in the regular season. It's easy to look good in the first week of TC.

 

Many so called "Experts" keep talking about how Lewis is on the hot seat this year. When I read this that sports writer loses all credibility with me. The Bengals have been the model of futility since the 90's began. They've gone through 4 coaches in that time period, not counting Marvin. During Marvin's tenure he only has 1 losing season (last year at 7-9). He only has one winning season (3 8-8 seasons), but for a franchise like the Bengals that gets him a free pass, IMHO. I had to sit through the years of Mike Shula and Bruce Coslet. If Mike Brown (owner) didn't fire those incompetent coaches what makes people think he will fire Marvin? People seem to think that the Bengals run their organization like other franchises, but that's not the case. Mike Brown is going to make money regardless of if the Bengals win or lose, and that seems to be all he cares about. It's been this way for the past 18 years why would it change now? Just ask Chad Johnson if it's going to change.

 

As far as Rudi is concerned, he is a steal in the 4th/5th round, but I'm not drinking the offseason Kool-Aid just yet. I want to see him run in the pre-season before I say defenitively that he's back. All the articles coming out about players are possitive in training camp. Let's see them in action first boys. Another thing to note is that Chris "2 Carry" Perry is healthy for the first time in 2 years. He could steal some carries until he tears his vagina again.

[Randall]

Many so called "Experts" keep talking about how Lewis is on the hot seat this year. When I read this that sports writer loses all credibility with me. The Bengals have been the model of futility since the 90's began. They've gone through 4 coaches in that time period, not counting Marvin. During Marvin's tenure he only has 1 losing season (last year at 7-9). He only has one winning season (3 8-8 seasons), but for a franchise like the Bengals that gets him a free pass, IMHO. I had to sit through the years of Mike Shula and Bruce Coslet. If Mike Brown (owner) didn't fire those incompetent coaches what makes people think he will fire Marvin? People seem to think that the Bengals run their organization like other franchises, but that's not the case. Mike Brown is going to make money regardless of if the Bengals win or lose, and that seems to be all he cares about. It's been this way for the past 18 years why would it change now? Just ask Chad Johnson if it's going to change.

 

As far as Rudi is concerned, he is a steal in the 4th/5th round, but I'm not drinking the offseason Kool-Aid just yet. I want to see him run in the pre-season before I say defenitively that he's back. All the articles coming out about players are possitive in training camp. Let's see them in action first boys. Another thing to note is that Chris "2 Carry" Perry is healthy for the first time in 2 years. He could steal some carries until he tears his vagina again.

 

Yeah there is a lot of hype this time of year but Rudi was astonishingly consistent until last year. I think he has 1 or 2 years left.

 

I haven't drafted him but have him in a dynasty .

[Roo]

still, 2.9!

i'll only believe it when i see it.

he wasn't a dynamic RB to begin with.

 

...and what kind of professional RB doesn't extensively train his lower body?

 

I'm with you man. Even when he was "top 10" he was usually 10th, and that's because he'd dink up 85 yards with 1 TD. Of course, I owned him 2 years ago and he helped me win...

 

He's definately worth watching - we'll see him on the field, and we'll see what happens with the rest of his team/offesne. Of course, as the buzz grows around good news, his value will climb...

[The Irish Doggy]

Wow, that all sounds familiar.

[Seahawks21]

Done! Done! Done!

 

When was the last time a big RB added weight and it worked? Can you spell disaster? His problem wasn't his leg drive, it was his speed and burst. They have evaporated to Shaun Alexander levels.

 

Go ahead and take him in the 4th or 5th and regret it all season. Give me Hasselbeck, Winslow, Edge, Fast Will or Boldin all day. Remember, Rudi was usually only good when the Bengals were ahead. They should be ahead less this year than they were when he was a solid RB. I'm starting to think he may be the most overvalued pick this season.

Edited July 31, 2008 by Seahawks21

[Randall]

Done! Done! Done!

 

When was the last time a big RB added weight and it worked? Can you spell disaster? His problem wasn't his leg drive, it was his speed and burst. They have evaporated to Shaun Alexander levels.

 

Go ahead and take him in the 4th or 5th and regret it all season. Give me Hasselbeck, Winslow, Edge, Fast Will or Boldin all day. Remember, Rudi was usually only good when the Bengals were ahead. They should be ahead less this year than they were when he was a solid RB. I'm starting to think he may be the most overvalued pick this season.

 

 

NONONO

 

A hamstring will do that to you.