CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Bengals running back Jeremy Hill is making a late-season push to get into the conversation for the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award.

Hill ran for 152 yards Sunday in New Orleans to finish two yards shy of the career-high 154 he posted two weeks earlier against Jacksonville. His 556 rushing yards leads all NFL rookies.

“That’s something that’s an end of the season type thing,” Hill said. “Once you’re going week to week, you don’t really think about it. You just have such a big challenge every Sunday you have to prepare in a short amount of time. It’s really hard to think about that type of stuff. You just think about that in the offseason and think about the things you could have done maybe to help yourself that way.”

But offensive coordinator Hue Jackson said Hill certainly belongs in the conversation, and he also has earned more carries even with starter Giovani Bernard due to return to the field Sunday.

“I think he deserves it,” Jackson said. “And I think with Gio just coming back, it’s going to be hard for me to just say let’s just thrust him in there again and let him go again. I think we’ve got to work him back into our process and how we do things. I think Jeremy has done a tremendous job, and he’s earned the right to play, there’s no question about that. But it’s always good to have two really good runners.”