Geno Atkins ranks 7th in Week 10 B/R NFL 1000

The Bengals lost, again, on Monday night. They haven't shown they're good enough to beat winning teams, and thus, a loss seemed inevitable. There's a number of issues that can explain such a deep drop off for Cincinnati only one year after clinching the AFC North title. The play of Geno Atkins is not one of them.

While it is true that the seventh-year veteran defensive tackle hasn't been playing consistently at the elite level we've grown accustomed to, he has still been pretty great, numbers aside. Atkins was a bright spot for the Bengals on Monday, totaling seven pressures, one sack, two hits and four hurries. He was the highest-ranked defensive tackle in the latest B/R NFL 1000 rankings, with an outstanding 21 out 25 points in the snap explosion category and an elite 22 out of 25 in pass rush. With a total grade of 82 he was the seventh best player in Week 10 in Bleacher Report's ranking of every player in the league.

The only other Bengals player to make the top 50 was Vontaze Burfict. The leader of Paul Guenther's defense had his best game of the season against a team that relied on short passes, draw plays and quick screens. He was far better than everyone else in the coverage category, getting 23 points out of 25. No one else got more than 20.

Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict was above all of those normally great players. As a run defender and blitzer, he was effective and violent. His most important role for the Bengals defense is to be the tone-setter and force the offense to respect his prowess, and he did both of those things well as a run defender and blitzer.

Where Burfict rose above, though, was in coverage. Despite not coming away with an interception, Burfict disrupted a handful of Eli Manning's passes, often doing so with destructive hits at the catch point that challenged the receiver's ability to hold on to the ball.

A.J. Green had another strong game, despite looking limited with an injury, and finished ninth among all wide receivers with 73 points. The only other players who ranked among the top 10 of their respective positions were left tackle Andrew Whitworth and strong safety Shawn Williams.

Quarterback Andy Dalton was middle of the pack with a 15th place finish and one point better than his counterpart on Monday, Eli Manning. His 68 points awarded by B/R were not much to speak of, but the Bengals' signal caller managed good consistency against a highly capable front four. He struggled again against the blitz and his routes weren't working well. His offensive line didn't do him any favors either.

Cedric Ogbuehi was again the worst-ranked right tackle with a new career-low of 63 points. He was as bad, 15 points out of 25, against the run as he was in pass protection.

On the other side of the ball, every Bengals' defensive end not named Carlos Dunlap was again among the worst at the position. Not that the starting left end was much better, as he was 40th out of 53 players, neutralized by the Giants' quick pass scheme. Dunlap hit the 40s for the second week in a row, which is not good. Wallace Gilberry was the 48th highest-ranked end, but somehow wasn't the worst player along the Bengals line, as Will Clarke continues his downfall after a promising start to the season.

Karlos Dansby ranked higher than only two other outside linebackers, with 59 points and the worst grade in the coverage category. He wasn't alone though, as teammate Vincent Rey got the same grade. The veteran out of Duke got an impressive score from ProFootballFocus.com despite giving up a touchdown on Monday. The disparity in the rankings is a bit worrisome.

Here are the ranked Bengals players and you can check the full rankings here: