Bengals’ Dunlap draws praise, but Cincy D-line dumped upon; Steelers fan suspected

These count as strange times, because when you stumble upon something in the digital universe touting Bengals defensive end Carlos Dunlap as one of the NFL’s best and you know that tackle Geno Atkins ranks highly and that linebackers Vontaze Burfict and Vincent Rey are darned good, why would the same organization suggest that Cincinnati’s front seven is only 23rd best in the league?

First, there was this from Pro Football Focus on Thursday afternoon:

Carlos Dunlap has been a model of consistency on the left side for the Bengals pic.twitter.com/SHQmb9Gsz8
— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) July 13, 2017

Dunlap last season had eight sacks and a career-high 15 pass breakups, while Atkins led all NFL defensive tackles with 9.5 sacks. Dunlap has 37 sacks in the past four seasons.

Burfict's season was shortened a tad by suspension, but he put up numbers that pro-rated with the best of his career. Rey was recently tabbed by PFF as one of the league's top linebackers in defending the pass.

So why this crummy ranking later in the afternoon for the group as a whole?

Somebody at Pro Football Focus must be a Steelers fan, and they obviously had their hands on the keyboard Thursday. The silly comments within the story linked just above can’t possibly explain this miscarriage of analysis.

This ranking is a joke, right?

In Other News

Bengals’ running back Chase Brown looks to ‘build on’ strong finish to...

McCoy: Bullpen, De La Cruz lift Reds past Angels

Gene Smith ‘went berserk’ with Ohio State football coach salaries this...

Archdeacon: Teammates’ friendship grows into life-saving bond

Ohio State spring football review: Offensive line

About the Author

Matt Winkeljohn