Paul Dehner Jr.

Cincinnati

Hard to believe less than two months ago Jeremy Hill was essentially a non-factor. He spelled Giovani Bernard and played a nice role as a complementary piece. Now, entering the defining two weeks of the Bengals' season, Hill not only is in the conversation for offensive rookie of the year, but at the centerpiece of why this team believes it can make a run into January.

I've touched on the latter, let's explore the former. Could Hill win the OROY award?

The gut reaction of most when even hearing the award uttered would be Odell Beckham Jr., Hill's former LSU teammate, as a lock. When you snag one of the best catches of all time with three fingers it helps your case. Doing it on national television while playing in New York doesn't hurt, either.

But when you look deeper at the consistency and numbers and take away the flash, the race runs closer than many voters might imagine.

In the last 12 years, a non-quarterback has won the AP offensive rookie of the year award six times. There will not be a quarterback winning the award this year. Thanks for playing, Blake Bortles (10 TD/17 INT) and Teddy Bridgewater (11 TD/10 INT).

In those other six years, the winner of the OROY had the most yards from scrimmage of any rookie except for one season.

2013: Eddie Lacy // 1st

2009: Percy Harvin // 4th (tops in all-purpose yards; over 1K more w/ returns)

2007: Adrian Peterson // 1st

2005: Cadillac Williams // 1st

2003: Anquan Boldin // 1st

2002: Clinton Portis // 1st

Outside of Harvin's year in 2009 (returned two kickoffs for TDs), this category has decided the winner and understandably so. Most yards typically equal most impact. In the case of this season, here are the current rankings for yards from scrimmage among rookies.

RB Jeremy Hill, Bengals: 1,082

WR Odell Beckham Jr., Giants: 1,007

WR Kelvin Benjamin, Panthers: 952

WR Mike Evans, Bucs: 948

WR Sammy Watkins, Bills: 853

RB Tre Mason, Rams: 773

Folks will then point to Beckham's impact in a smaller segment of games. After all, he was inactive the first four games, worked his way into the next three and since has gone over 90 yards receiving in seven straight tilts. That includes three touchdowns and 143 yards this weekend against the Fighting Jay Grudens.

But, while we are talking about seven-game stretches, that's also when Jeremy Hill rose to prominence with the Bengals. Over that span, Hill has three games with more than 140 yards rushing. He's the first rookie to have three games over 140 yards on the ground since Cadillac Williams did it in 2005 and won OROY.

In games Hill has had at least 15 carries this season, he is averaging 123 yards and 5.64 yards per carry.

Let's compare the two seven-game runs of Beckham and Hill:

Beckham: 61 receptions, 866 yards, 6 TD; 5 rushes for 22 yards

61 receptions, 866 yards, 6 TD; 5 rushes for 22 yards Hill: 127 carries, 682 yards, 5.4 ypc, 5 TD; 12 receptions for 74 yards

Clearly, Beckham's made a greater impact over this stretch despite Hill holding the overall yards from scrimmage lead for the entire year. Also to consider, not often does a winning team make a difference in ROY debates, but it probably should be considered if the Bengals' offense can finish this run to the playoffs with Hill carrying the load.

The overall consensus may currently be for Beckham right now, and his flashes of brilliance will probably put him over the top, but the base numbers say it's far from over and two strong games into a playoff berth could be enough to push Hill past his former teammate.

ON TAP TODAY

Players return after an off day Monday, they will go over the film from Cleveland and start prep for Denver. Tonight, we have Darqueze Dennard as our guest at Moerlein Lager House. Should be a great time with the rookie first-round pick.

Come on down and have some beer with us -- they just tapped the double bock so you can test if you know how to work your Uber app yet. You'll enjoy Darqueze. Here were my five off-the-wall questions with him from when he met the media one day after being selected by the Bengals.

TWITTER QUESTION OF THE DAY

Thanks for the question, Micah.

Outside of spotting young Jeff Goldblum with his shirt off, Geena Davis from The Fly answers the question ideally. Be very afraid. Baltimore endured some tough luck this season, particularly with injuries in the secondary, but good fortune fell in its lap the last two weeks as the Texans have moved to either Case Keenum or Thad Lewis playing. Backup Ryan Fitzpatrick and third-string QB Tom Savage were both injured Sunday. Keenum was cut earlier this year and Bill O'Brien signed him back Monday.

The Texans' defense is strong but this might be too much to overcome. Though, I'm on board with the plan to let J.J. Watt play quarterback.

Then the final week of the season, Johnny Football will go to Baltimore. Bengals fans are aware how well that project has gone thus far. That it seems almost inevitable the Ravens win their final two games means Cincinnati will have to sweep Denver and Pittsburgh to win the North.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

A dust up between Jermaine Gresham and Bengals color analyst Dave Lapham emerged in the postgame Sunday. Listen to the audio and background information here.

The defense rightfully feels great about itself following the shutout of Cleveland, but DC Paul Guenther still preaches consistency for a team that's experienced wild swings this year.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

This one from the Bengals' website, which had exclusive access to the locker room speech following the game. It was emotional, as game balls were given out to Mike Nugent and Hue Jackson, who both lost their fathers. Special moment as you see a team come together for each other.

BENGALS TWEET OF THE DAY

Mo Sanu saluting his former teammate Andrew Hawkins, who stood at his locker and made an impassioned speech about why he wore the shirt asking for justice on Sunday. So often athletes are cookie-cutter and afraid to speak up for what they believe in. Regardless of how you feel about the topic, you have to give credit to Hawkins for not being afraid to speak his opinion and fight for what he believes in.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT

Denver Post:The Broncos are suddenly scrambling at the linebacker position. Sound familiar?

AROUND THE DIVISION

Ravens:Former Bengals backup safety Jeromy Miles has become a large part of stabilizing the banged up Ravens secondary.

Steelers:If Pittsburgh wins against Kansas City, the Steelers clinch a playoff spot.

Browns: Bernie Kosar goes off on the Browns organization. That escalated quickly.

INSTAGRAM OF THE DAY

Our guy Josh Sneed, prominent comedian and co-host of the CDot Show with C. Trent Rosecrans, had me rolling with this one. Use of Jeremy Hill's #turnt put it over the top.

RANDOMNESS

Wild Idaho cow chase ends tragically in, well, probably dinner for a dozen families of four.

South Dakota learns the hard way we are all 14-year-old boys at heart.

Once you tell memoons have moons and even our moon has a moon, I back away from the science book.

Much respect for sending out the wine drunk, single female Christmas card. Well played, Bridget.

AND FINALLY

Denver music week is upon us. I'll start with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of South Park who cranked out so many great songs over the years. Oscar-nominated Blame Canada deserves our attention first.