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Carlos Dunlap


HoosierCat

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I don't have a subscription to profootballfocus.com, but I heard through the grapevine that Carlos Dunlap is currently rated the #1 DE in the NFL.

He may only have one sack... but the dude is leaving his mark on every game.

I think it's a little early to catapult him above Mathis and Freeney but he makes plays to help this team win every week and they tend to come in the 4th qtr. Before he came to town, we had to constantly watch teams drive the length of the field to pull ahead late in the 4th qtr and our D was powerless to stop it. Now on sure passing situations we have Dunlap to harass the QB and it makes a difference sack or no sack. I used to be of the opinion that if our opposing team had the ball late in the 4th qtr, needing a TD, late in the 4th qtr that they'd do it everytime because they'd use all 4 downs and we couldn't keep them from gaining 10 yds 4 times in a row. Dunlap changes that equation

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I don't have a subscription to profootballfocus.com, but I heard through the grapevine that Carlos Dunlap is currently rated the #1 DE in the NFL.

He may only have one sack... but the dude is leaving his mark on every game.

I think it's a little early to catapult him above Mathis and Freeney

I don't think anyone is attempting to imply that Dunlap deserves to be considered for HOF status... so it's not really too early to do any of the work that PFF releases.

They do great work that isn't based on bias, opinion, or previously conceived notions. They break down every play and assign grades. Dunlap has the highest grade in the NFL at present.

In other words... when you look closely, you'll find that Dunlap is playing as well or better than anyone in the NFL right now.

I don't much care if the media thinks he is as good as Freeney or not, because... as you mentioned, he's changed the Bengals defense. National hype, or not, the dude's a beast.

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In other words... when you look closely, you'll find that Dunlap is playing as well or better than anyone in the NFL right now.

He's been my favorite Bengal player for some time now.

Yes he has. I'll vouch for you on that.

I'd also like to vouch for myself (something that I don't think is technically possible) when I proclaimed Dunlap the best pick of the entire 2010 draft (although I think I said the same thing about Maualuga the year prior).

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Pro Football Focus was basically saying that even though the rotation is great Dunlap needs more snaps. He played his best game of the year Sunday when he was given 58 snaps.

He whipped James Carpenter, the so-called "gimme a lineman" prospect the Seahawks grossly overdrafted instead of Andy Dalton.

Just saying.

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What would you attribute the slow development of some of the defensive players to? Is it about injuries and conditioning, or does it have to do with coaching? I don't mean defensive coaching by Zimmer, but instead the position coaching. It just seems it takes 2-3 years for most of the young guys to get to the point where they contribute. Dunlap has been the exception, he played well when given the chance as a rookie and has played well this year despite his low sack total. Simms has also been a little fast playing well early, but that hasn't seemed to be the norm.

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Has any team been better than the Bengals in the 2nd round of the draft since Marvin took over?

The only total flubs that I can think of were both abnormal scenarios too, being Irons and Thurman.

I wouldn't exactly appoint Jerome Simpson as a success. Steiny was a good pick but they decided he became over priced.

I would say the second round picks have been about 50/50.

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Curiosity struck, so this time I bothered to check. I'll assign some arbitrary meaningless grades too.

2003 - Eric Steinbach

B

Good player who only left because his asking price surpassed his potential contribution.

2004a - Keiwan Ratliff

C-

We've had worse nickles and dimes, but he was hardly irreplaceable.

2004b - Madieu Williams

B

He was one of very few true bright spots on a few terrible Bengals defenses. He wouldn't be a good fit on the current edition, probably, but I liked him.

2005 - Odell Thurman

D+

He was clearly a good player, so I can't quite offer up the F. The Bengals gambled and got burned.

2006 - Andrew Whitworth

A+

One of NFL's better tackles, and that's probably not what he was drafted to play.

2007 - Kenny Irons

D-

His end wasn't the Bengals fault, but I can't justify a better grade.

2008 - Jerome Simpson

C+

He certainly took forever to contribute anything, but now he's become a legitimately useful #2.

2009 - Rey Maualuga

B

I'd say he's pretty much played to his draft position to this point, but the sky is the limit.

2010 - Carlos Dunlap

A

He's probably the best player on a potentially top five defense in his sophomore season.

2011 - Andy Dalton

A+

It's probably too early still to be quite that positive, but I don't care. He looks like he'll be starting here for years and I'm f**king excited about it.

---

So overall, yeah it's a bit of a mixed bag. The good ones are very good though, in my opinion. I'm still comfortable saying the Bengals have been fantastic in the second round lately.

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I've seen a lot of defenders start out well as Bengals, then simply not progress or worse, regress. Justin Smith was a good example, as was Geathers. Leon Hall's kind of like that, but really with Zimmer, most players seem to be improving. To me, that's been the big difference.

I don't think that a Bengals defender has made the Pro Bowl in at least 15 years. Takeo made it the year that he left Bengals; I think that Justin Smith played in a Pro Bowl as a 49er. It's going to be nice to break that streak.

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I'm pretty sure both Tory James and Deltha O'Neal went to the Pro Bowl as Bengals after each of their huge interception seasons.

I did mean defenders drafted by the club, should have specified. Can you think of one in past 15-20 years? Reds had a similarly long run of drafting/developing zero starting pitchers of quality for 20 years, between Tom Browning and finally ended recently by Johnny Cueto (who was not a draftee, but was an original signing by organization). These things led to one Lost Decade by Reds, and more or less two Lost Decades by Bengals.

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Pete Prisco gives Dunlap/Atkins some love:

The more I watch the Cincinnati defensive line, the more I am impressed. The two young guys who really stand out are end Carlos Dunlap and tackle Geno Atkins. Those two second-year players key an aggressive front that was dominant against the Seahawks last week. Atkins got an early sack with an explosive up-field move and Dunlap spent the day in the Seattle backfield. Keep an eye on those two in the second half. They might form the best young tackle-end duo in the league.
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During yesterday's radio broadcast, Lap said he met Carlos Dunlap's dad in the workout room at their hotel in Tennessee. Lap said he asked Carlos' dad what Dunlap was like as a kid (Dunlap's dad coached him in youth football).

The answer? "You have to keep your foot on his neck all the time. You give him a little love, he goes south on you."

That's from his own father.

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During yesterday's radio broadcast, Lap said he met Carlos Dunlap's dad in the workout room at their hotel in Tennessee. Lap said he asked Carlos' dad what Dunlap was like as a kid (Dunlap's dad coached him in youth football).

The answer? "You have to keep your foot on his neck all the time. You give him a little love, he goes south on you."

That's from his own father.

Like a true pit bull...and me likey pit bulls on defense.

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During yesterday's radio broadcast, Lap said he met Carlos Dunlap's dad in the workout room at their hotel in Tennessee. Lap said he asked Carlos' dad what Dunlap was like as a kid (Dunlap's dad coached him in youth football).

The answer? "You have to keep your foot on his neck all the time. You give him a little love, he goes south on you."

That's from his own father.

I get the feeling Marvin and Zimmer are well aware of this fact.

Lap asked Marvin about the Dunlap's hamstring injury after the game, and Marvin laughingly said "He's probably just trying to get out of practice."

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The more I watch the Cincinnati defensive line, the more I am impressed. The two young guys who really stand out are end Carlos Dunlap and tackle Geno Atkins. Those two second-year players key an aggressive front that was dominant against the Seahawks last week. Atkins got an early sack with an explosive up-field move and Dunlap spent the day in the Seattle backfield. Keep an eye on those two in the second half. They might form the best young tackle-end duo in the league.

Hmmm. The best young DE/DT...the best young QB/WR...think maybe we're building something here?

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