Texans tackle Winston knows troubled back in different light

Eric Winston doesn’t know the Cedric Benson who has made too many of the wrong kind of headlines — on and off the field — in what has been to date an unhappy, unproductive pro career.

The only Benson Winston knows, going all the way back to their fifth-grade football team in Midland, is a good guy, an upstanding teammate and an immensely gifted running back.

“We always sat next to each other on the bus going to high school games,” Winston recalls. “For five hours sometimes we’d have great conversations, not about football but just about life.”

The two former Midland Lee stars, who went their separate ways to big-time college programs after winning a pair of state championships together, will cross paths for the first time in an NFL regular-season game Sunday when the winless Cincinnati Bengals visit the resurgent Texans at Reliant Stadium.

Winston, of course, is entrenched at right tackle for Houston while Benson, out of work when the season began, is trying to orchestrate an NFL do-over for himself with the 0-7 Bengals after failing miserably as a No. 1 draft choice of the Chicago Bears.

“Cedric’s different,” Winston said. “He’s largely misunderstood, I think. He’s soft-spoken. He doesn’t let a lot of people in. He had a lot of mistrust in him, for a lot of valid reasons. All I can say is I liked the guy a lot and he was great teammate, aside from being a great back. We’ll have our hands full with him.

Fall from grace
“I played with a lot of great backs at (the University of) Miami and I’d put him up there with any of them. He was lot like Willis (McGahee). Both were just naturally strong people. Cedric was so impressive. He followed his blockers well. And he always ran upfield. He’s a guy that’s not afraid of contact.

“His senior year (at Lee), we’d lost everybody on offense except me and him. But, man, there were so many games I can remember ... 350 (yards) against Permian his senior year ... Duncanville at Texas Stadium — he dumped about 260 on them. It was amazing. His junior year, he averaged 10 yards a carry. He was unstoppable. He really was.”

Benson had his share of moments at the University of Texas, too, winning the Doak Walker Award as the country’s top back in 2004, enough to convince the Bears he was worth the fourth pick overall in the 2005 draft.

Instead of becoming another Walter Payton for Chicago, however, Benson scuffled from the get-go after a 36-day holdout caused him to miss his first preseason. He never did establish himself as the Bear’s go-to back and, in 35 games, he had as many 100-yard afternoons as he did alcohol-related arrests — two — over a five-week period at the end of his troubled tenure there.

“He’s just a good guy who’s made some bad decisions,” Winston said. “But you could say that about a lot of people. I think he’s learned from it .”

The Bengals, desperate to generate a running game with Chris Perry struggling and turning the ball over, signed Benson three games ago. Although they remain 31st in the NFL in rushing, averaging just 73.9 yards, he had 52 on 14 carries against Pittsburgh’s stingy defense last week.

Embattled Cincinnati head coach Marvin Lewis is cautiously optimistic about Benson’s hoped-for revival, saying, “He’s doing a good job and becoming more comfortable with the intricacies” of Cincy’s offense, which is considerably different from what the Bears ran.

Still a talent
New teammate Chad Ocho Cinco calls Benson “a super powerful runner. He’s really nice. He had a couple of nice runs against the Steelers, who are really hard to run against. He’s taking advantage of his situation.”

When the Texans started the season with Ahman Green again at less than 100 percent, there was much local fan sentiment for them to give Benson a look, but he was never brought in for a tryout.

Head coach Gary Kubiak admitted considering it but said, “We liked our young guys. We decided to go with Steve (Slaton) and, fortunately, Ahman’s (Green) back now.”

“I would have vouched for Cedric, absolutely,” Winston said. “I remember talking to him after the first preseason game (in Houston) last year and he seemed happy to be starting. Everything looked like it was going OK. Hopefully, he’ll find his niche in Cincinnati. Just to see him on the field again will be really good. I’m always pulling for him.”

(chron.com)