Geno Atkins vs A.J. Green

[patriotsheatyan]

Who has been a better player, had a bigger impact, and better career?

[I <3 Faulk]

I'm gonna go with Atkins because I feel his career, as a whole, is entirely underrated to most. Maybe not on here, but a lot of people don't even know who he is, let alone that he was constantly a top DT. Both players have had an excellent career on the field and off of it. Personally I would go Atkins if they were both rookies and I had them for a full career. 

[diamondbull424]

I’m going with AJ Green.

He made Andy Dalton look a lot better than he was and while I feared both as a Ravens player, Green was the one that I most feared. I think with Green but without Atkins they MIGHT have made those playoffs, but without Green I don’t think they have a chance at sniffing the playoffs.

In fact 2013 is probably the best opportunity to look towards this. Atkins and Green both had fantastic seasons, but Atkins went down and was only able to play in 9 games that season. The Bengals still made the playoffs and their record didn’t suffer an incredible downturn.

Fast forward to 2018 where before Green went down the Bengals were something like 5-4 with him and then he goes down and they only won one additional game to finish at 6-10. With him they were a potential playoff contender, yet without him they were 1-6. We then go to 2019 and that same team without Green finished with the worst record in the league. Yet Geno Atkins was healthy in both scenarios.

So to me the clear difference maker on that squad is AJ Green, he’s (near single handedly) made them look far better offensively when he’s been in the lineup.

EDIT: And along the theme of being underrated, I think AJ Green also fits the bill. Had he been playing with a legit QB for most of his career, I think he would currently be considered a superior WR to Julio Jones all time. I think in their prime he was the superior player due to his combination of route running, swiftness, and hands... but while Jones played with a legit QB, Green made Dalton LOOK like a legit QB. Once he got injured the wheels fell off for the Red Rifle.

Edited July 29, 2020 by diamondbull424

[MSURacerDT55]

This should be two differernt questions:

Who was the overall better player 

Who is is more valuable currently

Both would be Atkins for me

[ET80]

I traditionally say that OL/DL are more important than WRs. 

So, Atkins.

[Duluther]

1 hour ago, ET80 said:

I traditionally say that OL/DL are more important than WRs. 

So, Atkins.

When asking about value, this. Perhaps Green is a greater talent (debatable), but the value of a pass-rushing UT is much greater than even an top 10 WR. 

[Chargers]

A.J Green when healthy is the better player. Atkins is more valuable because his position.

[diamondbull424]

On 7/29/2020 at 11:34 AM, ET80 said:

I traditionally say that OL/DL are more important than WRs. 

So, Atkins.

I think in this case we have to throw traditional thinking out of the ball game though. My thinking is that there are two reasons we have to disregard traditional thinking here: a) This is a QB driven league and the QB is the most important position on the field. Now how does this apply here when Green is the WR and Dalton was the QB? Well its simple, Green in his prime was an elite WR; as you know from watching DeAndre Hopkins, he makes the average to below average QB look like an above average to good QB. So in the grand scheme of things, that elevation of the QB has been invaluable for the Bengals in their success MORE than the impact that Atkins was able to provide. The Bengals worse seasons in the past three seasons were in 2016 (6 wins), 2018 (6 wins), and 2019 (2 games). In those seasons Green only played in 10 games, 9 games, and 0 games respectively. Green’s record with the Bengals is 66-44-1 whereas with Atkins record With the Bengals is 72-79-2.

Now obviously they both played games together and there’s some obvious overlap, the only season where Green was durable throughout and Atkins wasn’t the most durable was 2013. In that season the record with Geno Atkins (and AJ Green) was 6-3; whereas without Atkins (but with Green) it was a 5-2 record. The team record was was just as good with him as without him from a win column standpoint. Whereas when Green hasn’t been able to be in the lineup, the record disparity has been incredibly noticeable for the Bengals.

IMO its quite clear that he’s the more valuable player for the Bengals over Atkins. Now who was the “better” player I think can be more fairly argued, both were All Pro talents... one just had the benefit of not being held back by the incompetency of the most important position in the sport.

 

[scar988]

This is like comparing Chicken Wings and Pizza. Both are great in their own right. Both are food. But they're both so different, how do you really compare the two?

[patriotsheatyan]

3 hours ago, scar988 said:

This is like comparing Chicken Wings and Pizza. Both are great in their own right. Both are food. But they're both so different, how do you really compare the two?

Pizza is clearly more valuable. 

[diamondbull424]

1 hour ago, patriotsheatyan said:

Pizza is clearly more valuable. 

Agreed. Pizza gives you so much more versatility there.

You can customize your dough from a classic bread dough to a pretzel dough to a pancake dough (for breakfast pizzas), cauliflower dough, etc. Then you’ve got your sauce that you can customize from your classic tomato to barbecue, Alfredo sauce, marinara, ranch, garlic Parmesan sauce, etc. Oh and then you’ve got a boat load of toppings you can choose from whether its vegan, pescatarian, keto, etc. Pizza is the clear cut MVP of foods. 🤓😁