. Clint Boling
Boling ranked as the league's 8th-9th best left guard, per Pro Football Focus, with an overall score of +5.0 -- exceptional as a run blocker at +5.4. Since taking over as the team's starting left guard in 2012 (he started a couple of games in '11 for the suspended Bobbie Williams), Boling's combined overall score sits at +20.5. When he played right tackle (for the injured Andre Smith and the struggling Marshall Newhouse) against the Pittsburgh Steelers, he scored an overall grade of +3.2... he moved back to left guard after struggling against the Cleveland Browns.
Factoring Cincinnati's quick-pass scheme, Boling was part of an offensive line that only allowed 23 quarterback sacks -- the lowest number since the '06 squad (with Steinbach, Braham, Anderson, Jones, Williams, and Whitworth) allowed 17. Boling also helped power the Bengals' running game to one of the best we've seen during the Marvin Lewis era.
Kevin Zeitler
Reggie Nelson+George IlokaKevin Zeitler is going to be a household name soon
A solid rookie campaign, followed by a sophomore slump, Kevin Zeitler submitted his best season in 2014 despite missing four games with an injury -- missed three games early with a calf injury then missed a fourth (against Jacksonville) with another.
For as strong as Whitworth was this year, Zeitler followed a similar model only allowing one sack and eight disruptions. Pro Football Focus rated Zeitler as the fifth-best right guard in the NFL and ninth-best overall.
Dre Kirkpatrick:Nelson finished the season first on the team in interceptions (four) and second in tackles (91) and passes defensed (12). Opposing quarterbacks attempted 48 passes against Nelson, completing 29 for 292 yards receiving. Nelson allowed one touchdown and generated an opposing quarterback rating of 46.8. In discussions asking who the best safety is in the game, Nelson won't get consideration. He shouldn't... he's not one of the best in the game. However, he's a staple of this team's defense and routinely makes plays for Cincinnati.
Pro Football Focus graded George Iloka as the team's top-performing defensive player with an overall grade of +9.4. He also ranked second in run defense (+3.6) and pass coverage (+3.9). Opposing quarterbacks targeted Iloka's assignments 33 times this season, completing only 44 passes (42.4 percent) for 257 yards and only 67 YAC. Iloka didn't allow a touchdown during the regular season in 2014 and opposing quarterbacks had a passer rating of 42.1.
Andrew Whitworth:Cincinnati selected Dre Kirkpatrick in the first-round of the 2012 NFL draft and Darqueze Dennard two years later. Kirkpatrick, who missed most of his rookie season with injuries, finished tied for the team-lead with three interceptions in 2013 and won the AFC defensive player of the week award in Week 16 this year with two interceptions against Peyton Manning, including one returned for a touchdown.
Over the last two years combined, Kirkpatrick has scored two touchdowns, recorded six interceptions, has 12 passes defensed and held opposing quarterbacks to a 77.1 passer rating. What else does this kid need to do to convince old coaches that young players are ready? Why do we keep asking stupid questions like this every 2-3 years?
Whitworth is the second of the three tackles to enjoy excellent seasons but come up shy of the award itself. He does benefit a little from the quick passing game in Cincinnati, but Whitworth’s pass-protection numbers this season are bordering on silly. He wasn’t beaten for a sack all season and surrendered just nine total pressures. Think about that for a second. In 16 games or over 1,100 snaps, Whitworth allowed pressure on just nine of them. He allowed his quarterback to hit the ground just once all season.
Some of those games featured multiple pressures so he actually posted perfect pass-protection games on 10 occasions. That’s 62.5% of games this season Whitworth was a clean sheet when it comes to protecting the quarterback.
update: 20/1/2015
1) Andrew Whitworth is reaching mythical levels
Whitworth notably didn't allow a quarterback sack this year and only nine pressures. His performance led to a second-team mention on the AP all-pro team and a spot on the PFWA all-AFC team. Whitworth secured the second-best overall Pro Football Focus (+36.8) with the top pass protection grade (+22.8) among all offensive tackles in the NFL.
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