The difference in Andy Dalton

[jowczarski]

Thanks for rescuing me there Synric - sorry about that busted link, all.

You all brought up good, and valid, points:
1. Jones/Eifert/Hill/Bernard/Green -- they all matter and of course, help.
2. He's put together "hot streaks" before. Yes, he has.

The organization, coaches and player have all seen this before, too.

Which is kind of why I stayed away from football in a way. It's too early to say "he's thrown for xxx yards / xx TDs / posted an xxx rating." I can only go by what I hear in the front office, coaches offices and in the locker room every day, and this drum beat that something was different with him back in the spring. The "public" part of it was Hue, Marvin and Whit saying the torch of leadership had been passed. But now that we're in to games, I wanted to revisit it.

Here's a quote from Hue that didn't make the story (though you may see it later) - but here's a peek behind the curtain:
"I think what you’re seeing is a guy who’s been through a lot of wars and hasn’t had the outcome that he wanted, that understands that he has got to be different. Because if you don’t change – you know that saying that if you keep on doing what you do, you keep on getting what you get – and I don’t think he wants to get the same thing anymore."

So this went into figuring that out. We all - and they - know none of this will be answered until that playoff game. But as Hue said, they've got to get there first.