SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Jeremy Hill's Sunday afternoon began in a place very few expected it -- on the bench.
Sidelined for an unspecified reason, the Cincinnati Bengals running back was benched for the entire first quarter of the Bengals' Week 15 game against the San Francisco 49ers in favor of Giovani Bernard, the team's change-of-pace, scat-back style rusher.
The tactic wasn't working early, producing mostly poor early-game results. Bernard collected only 19 yards on his first seven carries. By that point in the game, despite a couple of scrambles from backup-turned-starting-quarterback AJ McCarron, the Bengals had only passed the ball one time.