Quinton Spain, Chidobe Awuzie make PFF’s Week 6 Team of the Week

Well deserved honors for Spain and Awuzie.

Cincinnati Bengals fans saw their team play a complete game this past Sunday against the Detroit Lions. The offense and defense had two of their best outings in a 34-11 beatdown on the road, so it’s only fitting that a player from each of those units have earned recognition for their performances.

Left guard Quinton Spain and cornerback Chidobe Awuzie both made Pro Football Focus’ Week 6 Team of the Week for their respective outings. You can view the full team here.

Awuzie earned a coverage grade of 87.3 after allowing just 25 receiving yards on seven passes thrown his way. Only fellow Team of the Week member Bashaud Breeland netted a higher grade for cornerbacks .

As for Spain, no other left guard had a more prolific day in the eyes of PFF. They even named him the Secret Superstar of the Week for his efforts:

Spain got off to a bit of a rocky start in 2021 but has strung together his three highest-graded games in pass protection as a member of the Bengals in the last three weeks. His performance on Sunday against the Detroit Lions was his best yet. Spain earned a 79.2 pass-block grade with only one pressure allowed across 41 pass-block snaps. To make that even better, Spain earned an 87.1 grade as a run-blocker to give him an 89.6 overall mark for the game. That was the second-highest-graded game by an offensive lineman in Week 6 and was his highest-graded game with Cincinnati by over nine grading points.

Awuzie has certainly lived up the offseason hype that surrounded him. Expectations were high for him because of his impressive training camp, and he’s been nothing short of fantastic since he put his pads on.

The rise of Spain has been more of a surprise. We saw a more polarizing player last year when the Bengals’ offensive line was in disarray. Now that there’s consistency amongst the unit, Spain has taken advantage of positional continuity and, if it needs to be said, better coaching. He’s playing like the guy the Buffalo Bills signed to a three-year deal just 25 months ago.

Since signing a one-year deal back in March, Spain has taken advantage of playing under another contract year. With more games like this, he’ll be signing a more lucrative deal next offseason.