11-06-2015, 11:56 AM
(11-06-2015, 11:43 AM)jj22 Wrote: The thing is qb's don't go from below average, ranked 22-32 (which is what we've been told he was regardless of his franchise accomplishments) to top 5. I asked people to name me one that has before an they can't. So someone was wrong.... Fact is the national media never let Dalton struggle like they do other qb's who they gave elite/franchise status to. His game against the Steelers was the first time he's ever got a pass from them. Some of these characteristics they claim has made him top 5....maturity, 4th quarter comebacks, recovering from mistakes (INT/Fumble), he's done his whole career. They just act like it's something new, and fans let them by acting like it's something new as well.
I don't agree that Andy was "below average", I've always had him right around average in my rankings (12-18, closer to 12-13 most of the time though).
But, let's say that people were right when they said he was ranked 25 or whatever. You don't think there's ANY possible way that an athlete can be below average for a few years and progress to a level of greatness? I mean, it's not likely, but I'd say it's definitely somewhere in the realm of possibilities.
I'm not letting anyone in the media sway my thoughts, I actually think it's a huge insult to basically insinuate that only the homers have their own thought process and people that had issues with Andy's play weren't doing so because of their own opinions. Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds? My criticism of Andy came from watching some issues with his play. It's just dumb when people make it seem like anyone that critiqued him did so just because of what the media had to say, that's stupid, plain and simple.
(11-06-2015, 11:46 AM)Wyche Wrote: .....and he was also very young and cast in a very unique situation out of the gate, with no veteran mentor to learn from. Not you, but I feel A LOT of people were overly critical of the kid.....and especially last year, where we managed to win with a MASH unit on offense.
I absolutely admit that I was overly critical of the guy in the past, but I do think a lot of my criticism was warranted and still stands to be true today. I may have nitpicked him occasionally, but he absolutely wasn't a top QB until this year. His mechanics improving last year along with the ability to not completely fold with injuries surrounding him was impressive. This year he took the next step and looks great. A lot of us have been overly critical, but I don't think many people were completely out of line that were critical except the ones that had the "Andy sucks!!!" narrative. He's never really sucked, well, except in the playoffs and some primetime games, but every QB sucks sometimes.
I've seen some teams win games with awfully mediocre QBs in the past, so I can't give Andy all of the credit in the world for 2014, but he did a lot of good things last year that I liked to see. I've always been super annoyed with the Andy homers that always have to overrate everything he does and tear down other QBs around the league and even other Bengals players to make Andy seem better than he was in the past. For that reason, most of my arguments would be with them so it seemed like I "didn't like" Andy, though funny enough, I've always had him ranked right around 12-13 which is significantly higher than a lot of people on the boards.
