Dalton's make or break year

[BengalChris]

(07-14-2019, 04:18 AM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: Sorry you feel that way. That was actually a response to impactplaya's "At least Boomer and Anderson out dueled HOFers. Fouts . . .  Kelly . . . Anybody else?" 

No. The other two QBs that Esiason "beat" were Dave Kreig and Cody Carlson.

If you are going to praise Boomer . . . why? He had way more to work with than Dalton has ever had and still didn't really do a lot but people don't want to remember the truth about their heroes.

Jim Kelly in the Championship game
14-30
165 yards
1 TD - 3 INT
Sacked 3 times for 27 yards

Buffalo 17 rushes for 45 yards

Boomer Esiason
11-20
94 yards
1 TD - 2 INT
Sacked 3 times for 20 yards

Cincinnati 50 rushes for 175 yards

That's what happens as time gets farther away from these events. People act like the Bengals won because of Boomer, which they didn't, but lose because of Dalton. Switch the rushing around and that looks like a breakdown of a typical Marvin Lewis playoff game. The Bengals lost because of Marvin Lewis more than anything else. They were out coached in every playoff game under ML. That happened once under Sam Wyche.

Playoffs under ML
2005 Pittsburgh 34 rushes - 144 yards  . . . Bengals 20 for 84
2009 NY Jets 50 rushes - 171 yards . . . Bengals 22 for 171
2011 Houston 35 rushes - 182 yards . . . Bengals 19 for 76
2012 Houston 39 rushes - 158 yards . . . Bengals 16 for 80
2013 San Diego 40 rushes - 196 yards . . . Bengals 25 for 113
2014 Indianapolis 25 rushes - 114 yards . . . Bengals 21 for 110 - Luck was 31-44 for 376 yards
2015 Pittsburgh 29 rushes - 167 yards . . . Bengals 24 for 91
ML opponents average 36 rushes for 161.7 yards . . . Bengals 21 rushes for 103.4

In 1988 we had the NFL's #1 offense and it was Boomer who ran it. That's why he was the league MVP.

Anderson won two NFL passing titles by his 5th year in the league. While the total yards were not stellar by today's standards, in that day they were. In those days receivers could be mugged all the way down the field.

Different eras cannot be compared stat wise, especially in the passing game as the rules have been changed a number of time in favor of more passing and scoring.

Then there's the Super Bowl thing. Go there and you are better than the guy who hasn't been close.