Baltimore Ravens

Bengals' Atkins happy to have Ravens' Yanda on his side for once

Published Jan. 29, 2016 4:40 p.m. ET

foxsports

Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Geno Atkins is happy to have Ravens guard Marshal Yanda on his side for once.

Atkins, a co-captain of Team Irvin in this Sunday's Pro Bowl., called Yanda one of the toughest guards he's ever faced. Now on the same sideline, Atkins doesn't have to worry about incurring Yanda's wrath as he has in the past. He recalled a funny story about the time Yanda made him pay for one of his teammate's misdeeds, per the Ravens' official website:

"Don’t get him upset, I can tell you that. [Fellow defensive tackle Domata Peko] got him upset and I felt the brunt of it the next play. It was pretty bad."

What did Yanda do?

"I’m not going to say," Atkins said. "It’s embarrassing. He got me pretty good."

Yanda was Pro Football Focus' top-rated guard for the second year in a row, but Atkins has had some success against the Ravens with six sacks and 21 tackles in 10 meetings. Regardless, Atkins had nothing but praise for Yanda's ability.

"He’s got nastiness, he’s physical and he has finesse. He’s strong, but if you try to beat him with a little finesse, he can handle that too because he’s got good feet. He’s got the whole package."