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Green, Dalton, Atkins and Gresham are Hawaii bound Bengals

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oldschooler Hall Of Fame

oldschooler

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[b]Dalton would love trip to Pro Bowl[/b]

--When he had his season-ending meeting with tackle Andrew Whitworth, offensive coordinator Jay Gruden commented how things won't let up next year, especially with the defensive lines of NFC East and AFC West teams that they will face.

"I'll face the 12 guys that lead the NFL in sacks every year. I can run the list off," Whitworth said. "Between our division guys and Tamba Hali, (Elvis) Dumervil and (Von) Miller, the NFC East ... it would be a lot of fun, be exciting."

--While most players try to avoid going to the Pro Bowl, quarterback Andy Dalton said he would welcome the opportunity to join receiver A.J. Green in Hawaii. Dalton is the first alternate at quarterback at the moment.

"I think it would be a great experience," he said.

Whoever ends up going to the Pro Bowl with Green, Lewis hopes that they all use it as a business trip instead of relaxation.

Said Lewis: "They can be a sponge there. I used to motivate Ray Lewis every year that way. Don't go there to hang out by the pool. You go there and come back learning. You learn how other people do things and what makes other people great year after year after year, and that's the opportunity they'll have."

--The team has not announced a deal yet to return to Georgetown College, which means that many are expecting that the team might train in Cincinnati this year. The Bengals have trained at Georgetown since 1996.

Lewis though didn't say where they would train, just saying that camp "will be different."



http://www.foxsportsohio.com/01/16/12/Cincinnati-Bengals-believe-future-is-bri/landing_bengals.html?blockID=647096&feedID=3725
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oldschooler Hall Of Fame

oldschooler

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[size=6][b]Season in the sun[/b][/size]

By GEOFF HOBSON

Posted 12 hours ago

Geno Atkins, who led his line in most snaps and fewest words, appears ready to become the first Bengals defensive lineman since the year he was born to play in the Pro Bowl.

It’s not official. He and the Bengals have yet to be notified. But Atkins, the AFC’s first alternate at tackle, seems to be up next. Either New England’s Vince Wilfork or Baltimore’s Haloti Ngata is going to be getting ready for the Super Bowl next week when the all-stars gather in Hawaii for the Jan. 29 game on NBC (7 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Channel 5).

Atkins would be the first Bengals D-lineman to play in the Pro Bowl since nose tackle Tim Krumrie played in the Feb. 7, 1988 game, 50 days before Atkins was born. And he’d also be playing for a former Bengals defensive tackle since the Texans coaching staff is working the game and its defensive line coach is Bill Kollar, Cincinnati’s first-round pick in 1974.

Atkins will be recognized, but not because he’ll tell you about it.

“When you have a conversation with Gene," said Bengals defensive line coach Jay Hayes, “it's usually one-sided. But that’s OK. I don’t mind that. The guy plays.”

Atkins did some of his best work against the Texans both at Paul Brown Stadium last month and two weeks ago in Houston in the playoffs.

Against Houston’s highly-regarded offensive line Atkins had a half-sack, a quarterback hit, and three tackles while recovering a fumble in the 20-19 loss on Dec.11.

It will be recalled that Atkins very nearly won that game at PBS when he picked up a fumble and was four yards away from putting the Texans in a 26-10 hole and the Bengals who knows where in the AFC North race with 11:35 left in the game. A missed tackle put the ball awkwardly in his arm and he ended up losing his own fumble at the Houston 2, but it was hard to blame him for the ensuing 83-yard drive for a field goal that ignited Houston's fourth-quarter victory.

Then Atkins set the tone of the early stages in the Wild Card game in Houston when he nearly caused running back Arian Foster to fumble on the first play and came back in the next series to blow up Texans center Chris Myers for Foster’s two-yard loss when the Bengals forced two punts to open the game.

Atkins later came up with a sack and a quarterback hit as one of the lone bright spots for a defense that got drilled in a 31-10 loss.

The Myers sequence is what Hayes calls a “classic Gene Atkins play,” and there were many of those in a season he shared the league’s DT sack title with Oakland’s Tommie Kelly.

“Myers kind of reached for him, but Geno knocked him so far back into the backfield that the running back fell down and Geno tackled him,” Hayes said this week. “He got leverage on a guy, got pads under pads, and pushed the lineman into the backfield. And Myers is a very good player. A Pro Bowl-type center. And Gene just basically mashed him in the backfield. Impressive.”

That’s all you need to know about how Atkins has emerged from the fourth round in 2010 out of Georgia to one of the NFL’s top interior players in a matter of 32 games.

“He understands what he has and he uses his advantage,” Hayes said. “Quickness, burst, strength, technique.”

Now Atkins’s nickname is “Gene,” which means we’ve gone full circle. His real name is “Gene,” as in he’s named after his father, 10-year NFL safety Gene Atkins. But he’s been called “Geno” ever since the days he was a preschooler screeching through the Saints locker room and general manager Jim Finks and head coach Jim Mora named him “Little Geno.”

What’s in a name? A legacy, Hayes says, which is a big reason why he thinks Atkins is such a seasoned professional at the tender age of 23.

“He just goes about his business; takes care of the things he needs to take care of,” Hayes said. “He always knows what to do. It’s rare when he makes an error where he doesn’t know an assignment. That doesn’t happen."

Hayes compares Atkins to an another legacy on the defensive line, Robert Geathers, Atkins’s fourth-round Georgia draftmate that broke in seven seasons ago as a wily rookie turning 21 in his first training camp. Geathers’s father and uncle plied their trades in the NFL and their descendants keep coming.

“From my experience with those two men, they came in and never missed a beat as to what they were supposed to do,” Hayes said. “Where other guys don’t quite get it. Or still lag behind. Or have a problem with being told, ‘This is how it is,’ or “You need to do this to be a good player.’

“They just take the coaching and they take the criticism and they move on and go in the right direction. That’s refreshing about Geno. You can give him the correction and he’ll make the correction and he’ll take the coaching and go beyond what you’ve told him.”

Hayes loves the fact that Atkins realizes the tools of his trade aren’t only leverage and strength, but also notebooks and pencils.

“He’s always got a pencil; he’s always ready to write,” Hayes said.

Atkins is also welded to his iPad. If he’s sitting at his locker, his fingers are in a furious glide across the screen. Once a cell phone went off in the next locker and when his neighbor wondered aloud about where the ringing area code was from, Atkins had Googled the answer before it went to voice mail.

Atkins didn’t need any technology to find out how to get into the starting lineup by the time his second Opening Day rolled around.

“I told him in the offseason he needed to improve his play against the run to be an every-down player and he did it from the start,” Hayes said.

Atkins improved so much he went from a third-down player with 20 tackles and three sacks to doubling and tripling everything. His 66 percent of the snaps led the line, his 7.5 sacks led the team, and his 69 tackles were second on the line to tackle Domata Peko’s 91.

“Not bad,” Hayes said, “for a little pass-rushing specialist.”

Good enough to wait for the call.





http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Season-in-the-sun/3f22bb34-fd39-4844-945d-95ddb2a615ff
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Hackettj22 Pro Bowler

Hackettj22

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[quote name='Hackettj22' timestamp='1327022394' post='1090702']http://proshop.bengals.com/store/BJW7477%21REEB/Dalton+Pro+Bowl+Tee[/quote]

Seriously? I posted this 3 hours ago and no response? Nobody else finds it odd that you can buy an Andy Dalton Pro Bowl t-shirt? Did I miss something that everybody else already knows?
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Oldcat Hall Of Fame

Oldcat

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[quote name='Hackettj22' timestamp='1327033653' post='1090745']
Seriously? I posted this 3 hours ago and no response? Nobody else finds it odd that you can buy an Andy Dalton Pro Bowl t-shirt? Did I miss something that everybody else already knows?
[/quote]

Its an AJ Green T Shirt with the name crossed out and "Dalton" written in with permanent marker.
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Bengals1181 Hall Of Fame

Bengals1181

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[quote name='Hackettj22' timestamp='1327033653' post='1090745']
Seriously? I posted this 3 hours ago and no response? Nobody else finds it odd that you can buy an Andy Dalton Pro Bowl t-shirt? Did I miss something that everybody else already knows?
[/quote]

I saw it last night. Honestly not sure what to think, I think it will happen though.
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bengaled Hall Of Fame

bengaled

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[quote name='scharm' timestamp='1327072348' post='1090799']
I think the pro shop jumped the gun on the annoucement. Either that or the bengals are tired of getting screwed by the pro bowl process and they have decided to have their own pro bowl.
[/quote]


good one, sharm
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oldschooler Hall Of Fame

oldschooler

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[b] Teaching moments?[/b]

Marvin Lewis is not expecting A.J. Green or Geno Atkins to spend most of their free time lounging by the pool during Pro Bowl practices this week.

“They can be a sponge there,” Lewis said. “You go there and come back learning. You learn how other people do things and what makes other people great year after year after year, and that’s the opportunity they’ll have.”

Green remains the only Bengal still officially on the AFC roster but Atkins will be added either late tonight or Monday because either Baltimore’s Haloti Ngata or New England’s Vince Wilfork will be headed to the Super Bowl.

If New England wins, Andy Dalton moves into Tom Brady’s spot. Even if the Patriots lose today, Brady rarely goes to the Pro Bowl, so Dalton’s chances remain pretty good.

Said Green when asked what he hoped to get out of this week: “I hope to ask some of the older receivers about what they felt they had to improve on going into their second year and how they do things during the offseason to get better.”



(Click the link for the entire article)


http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120121/SPT02/301220049/Call-Camp-Question-Mark-?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Bengals
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