12-18-2015, 01:48 AM
(12-17-2015, 03:57 PM)BritishBengal Wrote: Until he wins a playoff game the media and fans will place a caveat on anything Andy does. Dalton himself knows this. He's had a fantastic year, but he also had his worst games on the big stage, as he has done since he got into the league.
In AJ the Bengals have a QB that played well on the highest possible stage in college. While I do feel McCarron fever has reached a bit of an odd level on the boards since Andy went down, I do understand it. AJ represents a bit of an unknown. He may well be a career backup and play like a 5th rounder. But in the back of the mind, until he proves otherwise, there will always be that what if. What if the 'experts' got it wrong. What if he was more crucial to the 'Bama success than people had given him credit for.
If it was someone like we have had in the past at backup, a Jason Campbell or Gradkowski, then I don't think there would be this level of intrigue. Also the TD McCarron threw to Green last week was about as good as any deep ball Dalton has thrown in terms of spiral, timing and placement. He's an interesting prospect.
Playoff failure is a Cincinnati Bengal problem, not just an Andy Dalton problem. Guys like Geno, Dunlap, Tez, Nelson, AJ Green, Gio Bernard and the o-line - leaders of the team - have all been invisible. Yet, unlike with Dalton, people still get excited when they dominate the regular season. Ill be very interested to see how McCarron handles a playoff game, should he start. 3 QBs have failed in the playoffs for Marv.
As for the spotlight, I guess you don't think the prime-time games against the Browns and Cards count? He was great in both of those. People sure counted the prime-time Browns game last year.
Btw, that deep ball from AJ to AJ suprised me. It was good. That said, it's complete BS to say that was "as deep as any Dalton has made". Dalton has made many more impressive throws this year alone. He's certainly thrown it deeper many times as well.
The training, nutrition, medicine, fitness, playbooks and rules evolve. The athlete does not.
