06-08-2015, 03:22 PM
(06-08-2015, 11:36 AM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: I'm not sure I follow this logic. I mean, that game happened. It counted. Not only that, but we've seen similar lows from him numerous times. So I'm not even sure you could say it was that much an anomaly.
Being fair, he's as bad or as good in 2014 as his total stats add up to. I mean, what's to stop us from taking some of his better games off his stat line, because they weren't the norm, to try insinuate that he was really worse? What would be the difference?
-Andy Dalton posted a QB ranking that ranked 25thth among qualifying QB's. (200 attempts or more)
-Mark Sanchez, Kyle Orton, Teddy Bridgewater, Austin Davis and Shaun Hill all had higher ratings.
-Jay Cutler, who was benched, posted a QB rating that was over 5 pts higher.
-He threw for under 20 TD's. (19)
-Despite ranking 18th in TD's, he ranked 3rd in INT's. (His TD to INT ratio was awful)
The guy had a really disappointing year, especially coming off that boneheaded extension. He had yet another dismal performance in the postseason as well. I'm sorry, but it's hard to get very excited for his prospects moving forward. Primetime game or no primetime game, the guy played lilke a bum last season.
My overall point is that Dalton needs to find more consistency. He looks like Drew Brees one week, Akili Smith the next.
The 2.0 game really was an anomaly, as his previous low passer rating was 40.8 in his rookie season. So lets be honest, that was easily the worst game of his career and it's not close really. That said, he has had a disproportionate amount of truly BAD games. Games where he's thrown multiple picks, or had a rating in the 50's. That's what frustrates me the most about him. When he's off, he really stinks it up.
I can understand why you're not excited about his prospects in the future, and I don't think the dude will ever be a top 10 QB, but I'd be willing to bet he'll improve on last season. The fact that MLJ and Eifert missed the entire season and AJ missed basically 5-6 games surely didn't help him. Just about any QB will suffer with his top targets missing that much time, if we're being realistic.
As for the dismal postseason performance, you probably know where I stand on that. It's tough to find ANY players who have played well in the bright lights for Marvin Lewis. So I can't be sure that it's a Dalton problem more than a "Marv can't get the best out of any of his players" problem.
The training, nutrition, medicine, fitness, playbooks and rules evolve. The athlete does not.
