Cincinnati Bengals Ring of Honor
2024 Ring of Honor Class
Corey Dillon
The Bengals all-time leading rusher was known to make opposing defensive coordinators wince during pre-game warmups when they could feel his brute strength and chip-on-the-shoulder purpose as he merely ran past them. He has authored the three biggest rushing games in Bengals history, including the 278-yard masterpiece on just 22 carries against Denver's No. 2 rush defense that allowed no Bengals pass completions in the last three quarters. The Oct. 22, 2000 game marked the first Bengals win in Paul Brown Stadium, where the improbable was good enough to break Walter Payton's 23-year-old NFL record and came just three years after Dillon broke Jim Brown's 40-year-old rookie single game rushing record with 246 yards against the Oilers at Riverfront Stadium. They are two of the 14 biggest rushing games in NFL history and only he and O.J. Simpson appear on that list twice. In that remarkable 2000 season he became the first Bengal to rush for more than 1,400 yards on 4.6 yards per carry for an offense that averaged 4.9 yards per pass.
Tim Krumrie
A ferocious college wrestler with Wild West cowboy grit, he went from the tenth round to franchise icon as a relentless sideline-to-sideline 3-4 nose tackle. Far from a mere absorber of double teams, Krumrie frantically led the Bengals in tackles from 1985-88 while going to two Pro Bowls. His devastating broken leg that stunned and sickened the world early in Super Bowl XXIII didn't stop him from never missing a non-strike game in a remarkable 188-game stretch that currently is the most games played by any Bengals lineman on either side of the ball. He played his final 96 straight games post-rehab and at age 32 led the 1992 Bengals in tackles one final time with 97 to go with four sacks and two forced fumbles. His signature game was his break-out game, a 50-24 dismantling of a Cowboys team making its first trip to Cincinnati in 1985. Asked to name the young, underrated nose tackle for the Bengals, all the Cowboys center could offer was "Crummy," and that's all Krumrie and the upstart Bengals needed as he engulfed the game with seven of his 11 tackles coming in a first half the Bengals took a 22-0 lead. Dallas and the rest of the NFL never forgot his name again.
