Cincinnati Bengals: MVPs from Week 1 overtime win vs. Vikings

Weekly MVP’s 

Defense: Germaine Pratt 

This one could have gone in many different directions because the defense had several players who had great games like Jessie Bates, Trey Hendrickson, B.J. Hill, Larry Ogunjobi, and Chidobe Awuzie but the player in my eyes who stood out the most and made the biggest play of the entire game was linebacker Germaine Pratt.

Pratt played the best game of his young career so far with the Bengals in this one. Not only did he tie for the team lead in tackles with six, but he also assisted on two and was the key player who forced the fumble late in overtime when the game seemed nearly wrapped up against one of the best running backs in the league in Dalvin Cook. He also was the one to recover the fumble after he forced it, which got the Bengals the ball right at midfield with a perfect opportunity to win the game, which they did.

You can see the growth from last season and his rookie season with Pratt. He looks like a completely different player on the defense with his speed, vision, ability to tackle, and instincts are a lot quicker as he’s reacting to the ball better than he ever has. Germaine Pratt is this week’s defensive MVP.