Gruden Backs Dalton, Impressed by Caldwell

Photo by Nick Berman

The Bengals Offensive Coordinator Jay Gruden was not pleased with his offense on Sunday’s game against the Jets. In a post game interview and an appearance on Sirius XM Radio, he didn’t beat around the bush, saying that 10 of the first 12 offensive plays were bad.

But, Gruden said he liked Dalton’s management of the game (which is good news, considering that the game manager role will be Dalton’s main priority this year). He also said this on Dalton: “He’s done some things for a rookie quarterback in two weeks that a lot of guys haven’t done in their careers. With audibles and checks and that stuff he’s done well.”

Gruden also suggested that the receivers weren’t helping Dalton much. He wasn’t happy with the 5 drops made by the receivers during the Jets game. He thought one positive was that AJ Green did a great job of getting open against Revis overall. Even on the play where Green’s hands tipped Dalton’s pass for an interception, Gruden liked Green’s play: “The pass that [Green] ran against Revis that was intercepted was a hell of a release”

And Gruden likes what he is seeing in Caldwell too. He indicated that he thought Caldwell was the best all-around receiver. He also explained that Caldwell has a better chance at starting than had previously been expected:

“Andre is as good a receiver we have when you talk about everything with knowledge and the ability to block and run,” he said. “Andre has done a great job for us and he’s showing he deserves to be in the mix with those other two guys.”

In the game against the Carolina Panthers tonight, watch how Gruden decides to work in his top three receivers. They need to help out their quarterback by fixing the drops. Carolina has a good passing defense, but I think Dalton may finally feel comfortable with the ball in his hands tonight. He has nowhere to go but up, right?

Want more Bengals news? Like Stripe Hype on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or grab our RSS feed. And don’t for give to show the author some love on his twitter: @JustBeWarned