{The Ultimate ANDY DALTON Mega Thread}

[Brownshoe]

(09-22-2015, 10:02 AM)djs7685 Wrote: 2010.

I'm not saying that he didn't have anyone to throw to the entire year, but I'd put it on par with what the Bengals had to deal with last year. A couple guys missed significant time, and there were others in and out of the lineup through the year and even Rivers' better weapons were obviously hurting (much like A.J. still looked hurt toward the end of last season).

Rivers threw for 4,700+ yards, completed 66% of his passes, and had a 30/13 TD/INT ratio despite all of the injury problems. I can't remember ever seeing another QB put up a 100+ passer rating with weapons on par with what Rivers had to deal with in 2010. No receiver topped 782 yards on the team due to the injuries piling up.

Vincent Jackson barely played at all, Gates and Floyd missed significant snaps, and the guys that came in to clean up were Randy McMichael, Craig Davis, Patrick Crayton, Seyi Ajirotutu, and Kelley Washington. They had a good run game that year, but Rivers still played very, very well even when he was throwing the ball to some less than exciting receivers.

We can sit here and nitpick whose injuries were a bigger deal or whatever, but all that I'm saying is that I was VERY impressed with Philip Rivers' 2010, and if Andy put up those numbers given a similar situation, we'd all be petitioning to have statues built of him both outside and inside the stadium.

I have always thought that Rivers was an elite QB. My point still stands though. There's only a few outliers, but QBs need solid receivers to be able to play well. Even elite QBs don't play well w/o solid weapons (obviously there is a outlier or two). Especially if it's early in the QBs career like it was with Dalton. Plus it was Daltons first year in Hues system.

People just need to cut Dalton some slack. He hasn't had the easiest start of his career if you think about it. He was put on a team that their only real weapon was a rookie WR. He was put in a division that had the #1 defense for multiple years, and the Ravens/Browns always have great defenses. I do think all of those hardships that Dalton had to endure is going to payoff in the long run though. He will be used to facing good defenses, and he will be used to playing with subpar talent (now that he has legit weapons it will make everything easier). I think everyone will recognize how good Dalton is this year.