"After surrendering 109 yards to Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch, the Ravens rush defense gets another difficult assignment in Cincinnati Bengals tailback Cedric Benson.

Benson's 593 yards this season rank a modest 14th in the NFL, but he has gained more yards on the ground than the Ravens' own Ray Rice (559 yards). And two years ago, Benson became the first back since the Miami Dolphins' Ricky Williams (2002-2003) to gain more than 100 yards in consecutive meetings against the Ravens.

"We've got our hands full," defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano acknowledged during his weekly briefing Thursday. "We've played him well last year the two times we played. Then two years ago, both times, he had over 100 yards on us. So he's more than capable. So we've got to go a great job on him."

Benson is aided by an offensive line that is tied for 10th in the NFL in rushing first downs with 24, according to statistics compiled by NFL.com.

"They're huge, real big guys up front and they've been together for a while now," Ravens defensive tackle Haloti Ngata said. "They're a real physical group, too. It looks like on film, they like to bully guys around. We just have to make sure that we stop that and make sure we stop Cedric Benson.""