Bengals DC criticizes Geno Atkins, ‘just a guy out there’
Atkins is known as one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL, but he suffered through a down year and was called out for it.
The Cincinnati Bengals got bounced from the playoffs on Sunday in a 26-10 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, and the lack of a pass rush was a major reason why. Cincinnati allowed Andrew Luck to throw for 376 yards, sacking the quarterback just once. In the aftermath, Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther took defensive tackle Geno Atkins to task, stating that he did not play up to standard.
“This year, he was just three-technique No. 20, in my mind,” Guenther said via ESPN. “He was just a guy out there.
“I always tell them our best players have to play good in these big games,” Guenther said. “All the time. It can’t be sometimes. It’s got to be all the time. If our best players don’t play good then there is a big chance we are not going to play good.”
Atkins signed a lucrative five-year, $53 million extension last year, but failed to perform the same way he had in prior years. Following a 12.5-sack season in 2012, Atkins recorded three sacks in 16 games this season after totaling six sacks in just nine contests in 2013. Atkins tore his ACL in November of last year, and did not have the same explosion in the trenches this season.
For Guenther, the lack of production made him wonder about expanding his rotation along the defensive line:
“He didn’t have the explosion he had in the past,” Guenther said. “When you start seeing that, you’ve got to make a decision as a coordinator. Can you do this with four guys or do you have to do this somewhere else?”
Guenther left Atkins with plenty of motivation this offseason, fed up with the lack of playmaking.
“We need to get him back to where he was, being that game-wrecker there inside,” Guenther said. “Otherwise, we need to go find a new inside rusher.”
The Bengals, who finished last in the NFL in sacks this season, need to hope Atkins can return to form. Otherwise, they have an expensive, unproductive player for the foreseeable future. Atkins will not be cut until 2016 at the earliest, but even then Cincinnati assumes $6 million in dead money, with a savings of only $3 million. Cutting him in 2017 would be more likely, saving $7.6 million with $3 million in dead money.
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