06-04-2015, 01:14 PM
(06-04-2015, 12:37 PM)djs7685 Wrote: No they weren't, but the defense got a little better, the running game got a little better, and QB play dropped off slightly. The 2010 schedule was absurd and 2011 wasn't really that bad.
Looking at all of those things doesn't lead me to believe that it makes a person sound like an intelligent human being to say "Andy Dalton was the main reason the team turned it around!". That just sounds dopey if you're willing to look at context.
I think A.J. Green is a phenomenal athlete, but he was hardly the biggest reason the team went from 4-12 to 9-7. That's not a knock on A.J., it's just the truth. Production from the #1 receiver spot didn't explode from 2010 to 2011, so I can't give him that credit. He didn't personally do anything that would make me give him the credit for those wins.
It's the same for Andy. I'm not bashing the guy by saying that he wasn't the biggest reason for this team to win 5 more games, I'm just trying to be fair by looking at the context of the entire situation.
More than likely, no single player deserves a ton of credit for 2011. Andy and A.J. played well enough to not have a huge dropoff from those before them, but they didn't come in here and wreck defenses to 5 extra wins.
I never said he was the "main" reason, but let's not pretend he was a bystander and was carried by the defense. His QB rating as rookie was only 2 points lower than a seasoned veteran the year before throwing to two seasoned veteran receivers. Had QB play dropped off substantially, that team wouldn't have made the playoffs. Why would the running game improve with a worse QB and skill players? Who were the biggest additions made to that team between 2010 and 2011?
