Geno Atkins put the Ravens in a blender to mixup the AFC North

I could go into great detail about the two sacks and the three pressures Bengals defensive tackle Geno Atkins notched in last Thursday night’s division win over the Ravens.

But I won’t.

Instead, I’m going to focus on three plays where Atkins had impeccable pass rush technique and beat the blocker soundly, but wasn’t able to record a sack or a pressure.* Atkins’ stats against Baltimore were impressive, no doubt, but watching his film was a stark reminder that stats alone will never truly reflect how great of a player he is.

Now, one of the deepest secrets rushing the passer, as anybody who has ever given it a go can attest to, is the fact that some of your best rushes, some of your cleanest wins, will end up being on plays where the quarterback still finds a way to complete the pass.

Sometimes that completion will even be a touchdown. Because football karma doesn’t give a fuck about you.

On the flip side, some of your worst rushes, plays were you get stoned right at the line of scrimmage, will end up netting you a sack because the quarterback decided, for whatever reason, to just run right into you.

Hi, Dan McCullers!

For that reason, sometimes, you just have to appreciate the beauty of great pass rush moves in and of themselves without worrying about what the results were.

This is one of those times.

With 10:32 left in the second quarter the Ravens were facing a third-and-15 from their own 32-yard line. Atkins was lined up as the right three-technique on the outside shoulder of Ravens left guard Alex Lewis.

On the snap, Atkins went face mask to face mask with Lewis and bull rushed him back about a good four steps. Just when Lewis tried to anchor down so as to not get dumped into Joe Flacco’s lap, Atkins snatched towards him and side stepped him inside, all in one motion. Atkins finished the move with an arm over to clear himself of Lewis who ended up eating a face full of turf. He stumbled for a step or so before he caught his balance, then Atkins made a bee line right for Flacco’s chest.

If you watched the game, you might be wondering why you don’t remember that play. Well, the truth is you probably do remember that play. It was the one where Flacco threw up a prayer deep down the middle of the field. Somehow John Brown ended up catching it and turning into a 45-yard gain even though he was covered. I bet you remember the play now, don’t you?

Unfortunately for Geno, everybody was too busy watching the replay of the catch to notice the dope move he put on Lewis. That doesn’t make it any less dope of a move, however.

The Ravens were in business at the Bengals’ 42-yard line with 36 seconds left in the first half. Atkins was once again lined up as the three-technique on the right, and this time he had linebacker Hardy Nickerson Jr. (I played with his father ... Yes, it is weird to be typing that, leave me alone) walked up inside of him in the A gap showing a blitz (in the rectangle). That is important and we will come back to it in a minute.

On the snap Atkins went right at Lewis and it looked like he was going to try to put Lewis on skates again. As he approached, Atkins even shot his arms out like he was getting ready to really try to bench press Lewis into the ether. Showing his hands like that had the desired effect of getting Lewis to stop his feet and sit down hard anticipating power. However, instead of exploding into his chest again, this time Atkins quickly stepped down inside and did an arm over on Lewis, who was now frozen in place like a statue, still looking for the power rush that never came.

Atkins hardly even broke stride this time after he beat Lewis cleanly. He did have to rip through the center’s outside shoulder, but he was basically past Matt Skura at that point anyway.

Remember how Nickerson was lined up in the A gap? Well, he faked like he was blitzing to the left A gap which occupied Skura’s attention just long enough to give Atkins the space to get inside of Lewis. Like they say, team work makes the dream work. With Nickerson’s help, Atkins had a free run again to Flacco. He actually blasted Flacco this time and damn near flipped him on his head.

Unfortunately that didn’t stop Flacco from completing the pass he was attempting to Mark Andrews for a gain of 11 yards and a first down.

But if you think just because the Ravens eventually went down and scored a touchdown on that drive that I’m not going to celebrate that clean win from Atkins, pal, you don’t know me at all!

The third and final Atkins pass rush I want to talk about was not just impressive because it was successful, but also because of who he beat with it. Ravens right guard Marshal Yanda has been a beast of a right guard for years. He has made multiple Pro Bowls and several first- or second-team All-Pro squads as well. But none of that really mattered Thursday night when Atkins decided to put him in a blender.

The Ravens had a second-and-4 from their own 15-yard line with just over four minutes left in the third quarter. This time Atkins was lined up as the left three-technique on Yanda’s outside shoulder. On the snap, Atkins went right at Yanda, but he used stutter steps, rather than bearing down on Yanda like a bull rush.

Because Atkins stepped to his inside a little, Yanda had to step down with him to guard against an inside move or a sudden power move. Just getting Yanda to step inside that little half a step was all Atkins was after. Instead of actually going inside or transitioning to a power rush once he saw Yanda had taken the bait, Atkins stepped back outside and exploded upfield. Atkins used his outside hand to swat Yanda’s outside shoulder to keep him from recovering, and drew his inside arm back so that Yanda wouldn’t be able to try to grab him.

It isn’t often you will see someone make Yanda spin around like a top, but that’s exactly what Atkins did to him on that play.

Once again Atkins had a free run at Flacco. This time Flacco still had the ball, but then a crazy thing happened. Atkins was a little off balance trying to turn the corner. He still hit Flacco with both hands, but somehow Flacco was able to remain upright, appearing to defy all laws of physics. It wasn’t until I saw the all-22 that I figured out that Flacco was falling backwards into Bengals nose tackle Andrew Billings after Atkins hit him, and that’s what kept him from hitting the turf.

Not only did Flacco not go down for a sack after Atkins hit him, he actually was able to regain his composure and complete the pass to Nick Boyle in the middle of the field for a 17-yard gain. If that ain’t buzzard luck, I don’t know what is!

For the record, I had Atkins with two sacks, four other tackles, and three pressures against the Ravens, which was quite a haul in it’s own right. But I just had to share these other three plays with you that nobody else is probably even talking about to really drive home just how sensational his night really was and the problems he regularly presents to opposing offensive linemen.

You can throw out your Aaron Donalds and Fletcher Coxes when you talk about the top defensive tackles in the league right now, and they are both certainly terrific players, but I dare you to watch his film and tell me Atkins doesn’t belong in that conversation, too. Last Thursday night he once again demonstrated he can beat your team’s best guard in a plethora of ways, whether each clean win showed up on the stat sheet or not. That’s why I am pleased to name Geno Atkins my Hoss of the Week for Week 2 of the 2018 season.

*The definition of a pressure varies. For me, I define it as a player being in close proximity to the quarterback, in position to make the sack, if he does not throw the ball and the passing ultimately being incomplete.