05-06-2017, 02:21 PM
(05-05-2017, 01:06 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: 1. You have to look at it on a year-to-year basis.
2011- 27th in yards per carry, top receivers were AJ Green, Jerome Simpson and Gresham. Is this an elite cast?
2012- 20th in yards per carry, top receivers were AJ Green, and a 3 headed trio of Armon Binns and rookie Sanu and MLJ. Plus Gresham. Meh.
2013- 28th in yards per carry, top receiver were AJ Green, MLJ + Gresham and Eifert. Great receivers and awful rush attack? Elite?
2014- 12th in yards per carry, AJ Green missed 4 games, MLJ and Eifert missed the entire season, Gresham averaged 7.4 YPC. Ugly.
2015- 23rd in yards per carry, AJ Green, MLJ, Sanu, Eifert. This was clearly the best season, but the run game was still weak.
2016- 23rd in yards per carry, AJ Green missed 7 games, Eifert missed 8 games, Gio missed 6 games. LaFell and rookie Boyd. Ugly.
2. Well...excpept for 2012, when he was sacked 46 times (3rd in NFL). This was when the coaches asked Dalton to hold on to the ball longer and make "unscripted plays" which I feel exposed the pass blocking a bit.
3. Well...except for 2009, when Palmer had the 4th ranked defense in the NFL, and proceeded to pass for 146 yards and a 58.3 rating in the first round playoff loss.
4. If you say so. Shayne Graham was the most accurate kicker in Bengals history.
5. Andy didn't cause Gio to have a key fumble that cost us at least 3 points, and he didn't allow 27 points on defense. If the defense only allowed 15 points (like they had for McCarron for 3.95 quarters), then I'm sure Dalton could've led a few more FG drives. Instead, we had to abandon the run and go for only TD's, because we were down by double digits for the entire 4th quarter. I'm not blaming these guys entirely...just saying it wasn't "100% on Dalton".
6. They were all potentially winnable if the team played better. That includes Andy Dalton, but isn't exclusive to him.
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The entire team has been disgusting in the playoffs under Marvin Lewis. So have 3 other QBs (Kitna, Palmer, McCarron).
Thanks for pointing out that the Patriots are 3-3 in games where Brady has a rating of 67 or below. That just helps prove that teams can win when the QB has a bad day at the office. Heck, we "almost" won when McCarron posted a 68.3 which is nearly identical to the rating Dalton posted against the Chargers.
Edited due to douchey phrasing....
Your rebuttal and points are thin here and a bit reaching.
To your points...
1: Every player around AD has to be top tier elite for him to succeed in the playoffs? I disagree. He seems to be fine during the regular season with those players.
Also, not every team with post season success has ultra elite, healthy guys at every spot at the end of the year. AD has to have that? This path of logic seems like an excuse more than a factor or reason. You can't have it both ways.
The poo-pooing of the team around AD is unreasonable and, I think, quite slanted for the purpose of shifting blame. The Colts loss can't be placed on Andy Dalton, IMO, because the team was decimated and not representative of what the Bengals were that season. Other than that, the talent around AD in the playoffs has been excellent. Not every unit is going to be top shelf, at it's best all the time. Especially at the end of the year. If AD needs that to succeed, then he really isn't going to be the answer to anything meaningful.
2. AD has played 6 seasons. There are 2 where the line wasn't good. Even with that line in 2012, they made the playoffs. Also, not all sacks are on the O-line. This information doesn't tell the whole story and is incomplete. Again, slanted and misdirecting to serve your purpose. There is more data needed here to actually draw a conclusion on 2012's O-line performance.
3. Carson had a great defense ONCE in his entire time in Cincy. When he did, the team was playing terribly towards the end of that season and got smoked by a hot Jets team. You put down AD's WRs above and then bring this game up where Carson had an awful cast: Chad, Coles, Cosby, Simpson were the top 4 WRs on that team. That's much worse than any group AD has had. It's unreasonable to point to AD's cast, bring up Carson's D ONE season, then circle that back without taking Carson's cast into consideration.
4. Special Teams as a whole is much much more than a kicker. The Bengals ST units since AD got here in 2011 are much better than they were in the mid 2000s - which was my point. Bringing up one guy, a kicker, to try and deconstruct that is, again, misdirecting for the sake of manufacturing a rebuttal. The ST units for the Bengals are excllent. Huber is outstanding. The return game is better. Everything is better BUT the kicker. I blame the kicker for a large portion of lasts season's woes, NOT AD. I think AD played well enough.
5. AD's performance in the SD playoff game is indefensible. You trying to point to a late fumble by Bernard as a reason for the loss is just not right or a fair perspective. The Bengals D played great in that game up until ADs back.... to back... to BACK turn overs on 3 consecutive possessions - IN BENGALS TERRITORY.
Again, super bias - as if you're looking for excuses for AD - to blame the D for giving up points in that game compared to the Stealers game, where McCarron kept them in it by not stinking (in relation to AD in the SD playoff game... basically the opposite).
The telling play that game, to me, was when AD dove on the ground and coughed it up untouched. He was filling his pants the whole 2nd half. He was THAT bad. The Bengals were in position to take that game and AD gave it away in the 3rd quarter. Period. Here, go back and read the play by play of it and try not to puke...
Go ahead and scroll down to after the first half. Bengals up 7-10.
1st possession 2nd half: PUNT
2nd: FUMBLE
3rd: Awful INT
4th: Awful INT
Each one of those giveaways in Bengals territory led to SD points and losing the lead.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/playbyplay?gameId=340105004
I appreciate AD being the QB of the Bengals very much, but I refuse to baby him baby him or be short sighted over how he has played in the playoffs.
^ The above being said, anyone calling AD a bum, complaining about his arm strength, etc. etc. or saying that he CAN'T do it, are on the opposite side of irrational. Andy Dalton is a really good QB. He is a step away from being a GREAT QB and that step is multiple post season wins. He CAN do it. He just hasn't. All the tools are there.
Lastly,
The notion that the entire team has been bad under Marvin in the playoffs isn't correct. The defenses have had good games and the Bengals have had leads. In recent history, AD has not been able to overcome his own mistakes or make the players around him better in the playoffs. QB is the most influential, singularly important position in all of team sports for THAT reason. He isn't an equal participant or and equal part of the equation. He is THE most important by multitudes. He makes the most money because he makes the team go, he gets the glory and the blame if they fail. Blaming every single thing around him, BUT HIM, or treating the players as equal parts are just apologistic notions from the hearts of fans. He has the most influence and should get the most blame. And if he had played lights out and they had lost, NOBODY would be on his case. But that isn't reality.
The fact that Brady is 3-3 WITH terrible performances doesn't mean that AD gets off the hook or that TB's team bailed him out (sometimes the guys around him have made great plays, yes... see superbowl vs Seahawks). It could also mean that in crunch time, Brady picked his game up. JUST LIKE MCCARRON DID. In the moments needed, great QBs come through. AD hasn't done that... yet. So to say he's great or be sensitive towards people who beat on him a little is fanboyish.
AD can be polarizing to fans. Some are hyper hyper sensitive to any criticism of AD and become apologists and others are hyper sensitive to heaps of praise and grandeur, becoming haters. I didn't see the article as unfairly bashing him at all. Fact is, AD's stunk in the playoffs, despite having one of the most talented rosters in the NFL around him, but that isn't the nail in the coffin to his career. Lots left to play.
