Bengals offensive collapse reflected in Week 11 B/R NFL 1000

Bleacher Report released their Week 11 NFL 1000 rankings and, to nobody’s surprise, no Bengals player was in the overall top 50. Without A.J. Green the offense couldn’t get anything going and Andy Dalton was ranked higher than only other five quarterbacks. The defense fared a little bit better with three players, Geno Atkins, Vincent Rey and Adam Jones among the best 10 players at their respective positions.

The Bills not only took the win on Sunday in Paul Brown Stadium, but also left the Bengals with a lot of question marks heading into the last few weeks of the season. The offense will have to do without two of their best players, Green and Giovani Bernard, who is out for the rest of the year. Dalton has been playing as good as anyone given the issues at the offensive line and the dearth of weapons, but after not being able to overcome Green's departure against Buffalo, Bleacher Report wasn't kind with him. With 65 points he was only better ranked than Blake Bortles, Jared Goff, Carson Wentz and the double-headed monster the Browns have at quarterback, Cody Kessler and Josh McCown. Elite Joe Flacco only had one more point, so maybe Dalton is closing in on elite status.

Cedric Ogbuehi was again a distaster at right tackle and, again, the worst-ranked player at the position with the worst grades in pass protection, 15 out of 25 and power 13 out of 20. Eric Winston wasn't much better this time; he ranked 23rd of 30. This has taken some heat off of Russell Bodine, who is quietly playing average football of late. Even if that is not much, he was 14th out of 29 at center this week, his best grade and rank of the season thus far.

On defense Wallace Gilberry improved the Bengals' rankings at defensive end with a 23rd finish in Week 11, although both Will Clarke and Margus Hunt continue to sink. Atkins, the sixth best defensive tackle, was the highest-ranked Cincinnati player, although his pass rush grade decreased a bit from last week. His snap explosion grade of 19 was only bested by Aaron Donald's 20.

Both Rey and Jones were the other Bengals players to finish among the ten best at their position with a 10th finish for the former and a seventh place rank for the cornerback. The nicest surprise was Derron Smith, the second-year player who replaced Shawn Williams when he got hurt and ended up being the 11th best free safety with 75 points in B/R's ranking.

Mike Nugent, as you might have guessed, was the worst-ranked kicker with only 45 points, his season low and somehow five points worse than the 31st ranked kicker, Robbie Gould (who was unemployed just a few weeks ago).

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