Doctors May Decide If Dalton Is Playoff Ready On Monday

[BFritz21]

Dalton is meeting with doctos on Monday to maybe decide when Dalton is ready for the playoffs.

Actually, it's just to see if he can remove his cast, which one would assume then that he'd be cleared to practice and play, but would he be able to get the strength back in his hand in just a week?  There might also be some problems with getting it back fully functional, but might not be a problem since it's only been a short time.

Ian Rapoport says that Dalton is "still weeks away," but I don't really trust him over people with closer knowledge of the team.

Big Whit took on the leadership role and basically said "AJ McCarron can get it done and we'll beat some ass with him and win a playoff game":

Quote:"No question in our mind whether we can win a playoff game with AJ McCarron," said left tackle Andrew Whitworth, via Bengals.com. "He has enough leadership and character. The most important thing for a quarterback is how the guys feel in the huddle with him and confidence they have around him. There’s not a guy that doubts that he’s going to come in and give us the best he’s got and make good decisions and those kinds of things. That’s probably one of his strongest suits. He gets leadership."

I love that Whit's not saying "if AJ starts" like it would be a downgrade and is instead just saying it like it's a sure-thing and that they don't care because we'll win anyways.

Dalton's not ruling himself out of any playoff game, though, and will find out more on Monday.

There's more in the article, but those are the basics.

I'm feeling confident that Dalton will at least be ready by the divisional round and maybe even for the Wild Card.

Be a big help if the Chargers can beat the Broncos and get us the bye but, either way, it's definitely looking brighter in The Jungle!

[BayouBengal]

Any other digit on his hand and I think there would be no question that he can come right back. The thumb tho. Thumbs are probably the human race's most successful evolutionary advancement. Or ***** Habilis or whatever creature it was that got us the opposeable thumbs. You just can't overlook the importance of the thumb when throwing.

Also, I know from experience that on cast removal day your hand will be very weak. I mean very very weak when moving in ways that had been restricted. I had a cast on for about 3 weeks and taking it off was a mind trip. The day I got it removed I was having trouble just typing a paper. It felt like I was wearing a glove with heavy weights in it. The strength comes back fast but seriously he will need 2 or 3 extra days to get his wrist muscles back to even practice throwing downfield.

I'm just saying there's no way hes the same passer the week he gets his cast off. Andy will know it though, its such a weird feeling having atrophy in certain muscles like that. It's like you have to try hard to do anything and you're less coordinated when you do. I was just about Andy's age when I broke my wrist and I was able to play in a flag FB game the weekend it came off. Still I doubt I could have thrown a decent pass with it. Actually I broke my left wrist so I never experienced trying to throw again. But to me the potential thumb pain will not be as big a deal as muscle atrophy in his passing game.

[Beaker]

(01-02-2016, 03:18 AM)BayouBengal Wrote: You just can't overlook the importance of the thumb

[McC]

(01-02-2016, 03:18 AM)BayouBengal Wrote: Any other digit on his hand and I think there would be no question that he can come right back. The thumb tho. Thumbs are probably the human race's most successful evolutionary advancement. Or ***** Habilis or whatever creature it was that got us the opposeable thumbs. You just can't overlook the importance of the thumb when throwing.

Also, I know from experience that on cast removal day your hand will be very weak. I mean very very weak when moving in ways that had been restricted. I had a cast on for about 3 weeks and taking it off was a mind trip. The day I got it removed I was having trouble just typing a paper. It felt like I was wearing a glove with heavy weights in it. The strength comes back fast but seriously he will need 2 or 3 extra days to get his wrist muscles back to even practice throwing downfield.

I'm just saying there's no way hes the same passer the week he gets his cast off. Andy will know it though, its such a weird feeling having atrophy in certain muscles like that. It's like you have to try hard to do anything and you're less coordinated when you do. I was just about Andy's age when I broke my wrist and I was able to play in a flag FB game the weekend it came off. Still I doubt I could have thrown a decent pass with it. Actually I broke my left wrist so I never experienced trying to throw again. But to me the potential thumb pain will not be as big a deal as muscle atrophy in his passing game.

Yeah.  He seems very unlikely for next week.  Strangers things have happened but AD playing the first playoff game seems very unlikely.

[jfkbengals]

The doctors will not decide anything about his ability to play, only whether the thumb has healed sufficiently to remove the cast.

Pain tolerance and hand strength are issues that must be factored in, and the doctors have nothing to do with those.