Elephant in the Room

[Murdock2420]

(11-07-2021, 11:31 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Oof.


The Dalton debate was the primary argument on the boards from probably 2012 to the time he left. You guys must not remember Mulligan, and he was far from alone. There were a lot of guys who weren't sold on Andy from day 1.

For his rookie year, it was pretty mild, with big flare-ups after every bad game. Particularly after week 3 against SF when Dalton was terrible. But overall I think Dalton surprised as a rookie so it wasn't too bad.

By 2013, it was a weekly debate. The INTs were a big topic. When he had a bad week, you'd see 15 threads talking about him being trash. Weak arm. Will never be a franchise QB. Carried by AJ Green and all the weapons (that argument started in 2013 with the additions of Eifert, Jones and Sanu).

After the 2013 season, the talk remained all about the 20 INTs and the fact that he was only 15th in passer rating. People said this meant Dalton was a middling starter, and that's all he'd ever he. He was holding the team back.

And all of this was during Dalton's peak years. It got worse as time progressed. I remember all of this clearly, because I was one of the guys arguing for Dalton every week.


He really never got a pass. At least not from a couple dozen (at least) on the old boards. There were some stretches like 2015 where people shut up about it because he was playing at a high level, but I remember watching games and knowing the boards were going to blow up if Dalton threw a crucial pick.

Surely I can't be the only one who remembers this.

I try to forget him.... I really do.

Not sure we have anyone on here that is at that level.

I do remember the later years the debate about the INTs. I thought the question was more about during the same time frame of the careers between Burrow and Dalton. Like you said in your reply and Kettering pointed out as well, the team was winning and Dalton came in with lower expectations and kind of surprised a lot of people with his play.

I think the few guys who seem most critical of Burrow are doing it for one of two reasons, they are just used to the Bengals not having nice things and believe Burrow will struggle being in this system or the other option. There have been some posters on this board the past few years making claims about how this player fixes the team, and this is the way it has to be and etc, etc. Now some posters are pushing back at that small group, at least that is what it reads like (I hope sometimes) when I look at the comments that I think are just trying to get a rise out of the "experts".