by Sports Xchange

"It's a new offense and they have to get comfortable with trusting me to step in there," said Johnson, who celebrated his 30th birthday on Thursday. "The plays are the same handing off and right now the exchange has been pretty good between Carson and myself."

If there is one advantage to Johnson playing on Sunday, it's his familiarity with the Raiders. In 10 games against Oakland, he has rushed for 938 yards and 11 touchdowns, which is one fifth of his career TDs. He also has five 100-yard games against them.

In a Week 2 game in Kansas City against the Raiders this year, Johnson had 78 yards on 24 carries along with three receptions for 41 yards.

"I've played them so many times that I know what each guy does and what they do," Johnson said. "Defensively their philosophy and mentality never change. They've been keeping them in a lot of games. They play tough and don't give up the big play."

Another player who might be out is free safety Chris Crocker, who also did not practice for a second straight day due to a lower leg/calf injury. If Crocker is unable to go, that leaves only three healthy safeties on the roster for Sunday -- Chinedum Ndukwe, Tom Nelson and Kyries Hebert.

Nelson, who made the team as an undrafted free agent, is listed behind Crocker on the depth chart. He has played in five of the nine games with two tackles on defense and three on special teams.

Hebert is more known as a special teams player (he is tied for the team lead with eight) and sees limited action in the secondary. He has one tackle this season.

In his first comments since Johnson officially joined the team, Benson was tellingly guarded in his statements and said that he realizes that sometimes football can be more of a business than a game. But he wasn't exactly dancing for joy either.

"I didn't know I was supposed to be jumping out of my seat or anything. I really have no feelings about it," Benson said. "They made a move they felt they needed to do, and that's fine with me. It's not going to affect me in any kind of way. Whatever happens from here on, I can guarantee you I'll definitely be making the best of it.

"In most cases you hold your fate in your own hands. I'm not letting up in any aspect of what I'm doing. I would imagine that I would continue to be the first guy and if not I'll make it that way."

When Benson does return to the lineup, Bratkowski said they would continue to move in the direction of trying to get Scott and Leonard a couple more carries.

"It's obvious the wear and tear had a little effect on him, so we will spell him with Brian and Bernard," he said.

SERIES HISTORY: 26th regular-season meeting. Raiders lead series 17-8. The Bengals are 1-13 on the road against the Raiders and have never won in Oakland (0-9). Cincinnati won the last meeting, 27-10, at Paul Brown Stadium in 2006.