Bengals DT Geno Atkins Awarded AFC Defensive Player of the Week Against Pittsburgh

It was a good week for defensive tackle Geno Atkins. Already named as a starter to the 2013 NFL Pro Bowl, Atkins was named by the NFL as the AFC Defensive Player of the Week on Thursday. Sure he had a shared sack removed by Elias from his total against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Atkins still dropped Ben Roethlisberger twice during Cincinnati's postseason-clinching win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

Atkins is the third Bengals player to win AFC Defensive Player of the Week this season, following Carlos Dunlap against the San Diego Chargers (two sacks, forced fumble, fumble recovery, five tackles and four additional quarterback pressures) and Michael Johnson against the Washington Redskins (three quarterback sacks and seven total tackles).

Additionally Atkins is the sixth Bengals player to win an award this year. Including the above mentioned, quarterback Andy Dalton won AFC Offensive Player of the Week (against the New York Giants), cornerback Adam Jones for AFC Special Teams Player of the Week against Cleveland and A.J. Green for AFC Offensive Player of the Month for September.