11-11-2015, 10:08 AM
(11-10-2015, 06:50 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: So the only skill that's been heavily questioned is his arm. Montana, Brees, Peyton, Brady and many more have been elite without an elite arm. That's why I've never really worried about Dalton's arm. For me it was a question of consistency (as far as his mechanics), whether or not he could stop panicking in the pocket, and whether or not he could avoid the disaster type games we've seen occasionally in the past.
Those were the things that were keeping Dalton from being a top 10 QB before, IMO.
I wasn't worried that he didn't have a total cannon arm, but the "zip" on some routes didn't seem to be there before and also the touch pass that we've seen more of in 2015 and deep accuracy have just been fantastic compared to what they were before. You don't HAVE to have all of those things to be an elite QB, but they certainly help, and if Andy keeps it up they'll help him get into that category.
I consider his past issues in the pocket to be part of his skill set, and that was one of, if not THE biggest thing keeping me from believing that he would have a good shot at being a top QB in the league.
Like you said, he's definitely a smart guy, so I didn't question him much there, but I'm glad to see that he fixed some of the glaring issues that I always had an issue with throughout his professional career. I can't say that I've been one of his huge supporters and fanboys, but I can definitely say that I'm happy that he's doing what he is right now. I've always hoped he would improve and I've always been rooting for him (no matter who the Bengals QB is, I'll root for the guy), I just didn't think he was going to turn it on like this. He's playing some excellent football.
