Called Out: Week 2 Bengals vs Browns
Sep 16, 2012; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton (14) looks to pass in the first quarter against the Cleveland Browns at Paul Brown Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-US Presswire
Dalton will not be called out here due to poor performance. In fact, he was very efficient and was probably the catalyst that allowed the Bengals to win the game. Dalton threw for his highest ever passer rating of his young career and spread the ball around to his receivers nicely. The only problem that Dalton seems to be having is on his deep balls. First off, this is not an arm strength issue. Dalton is not making good decisions when he does choose to throw the ball downfield. He needs to be more patient and pick his spots better. When he does finally unleash one, his accuracy is inconsistent. During the Baltimore game, he was under throwing the deep routes, and during the Cleveland game he was over throwing the deep routes. Practice should help him fix this in time, but this is a commodity that the Bengals will certainly like to have if the defense keeps giving up loads of points each week. One other thing about Dalton is that he is taking too many sacks. He was sacked a total of six times on Sunday, but about 3 of them were his fault. He is trying to do too much behind the line of scrimmage with the football. He has been scrambling out of the pocket and trying to make plays on his feet only to be caught from behind by a defender. Dalton needs to improve his pocket awareness and know when to throw the ball away.
For the second straight week, Hawkins is being called out for his spectacular play. He is single handedly the most dynamic player on the Bengals offense. While the Bengals move A.J. Green around to try to get mismatches against the defense, Hawkins is already a mismatch as the slot receiver. He is sometimes covered by either a safety or a linebacker and is too quick for them. His 50-yards touchdown catch and run was the most dynamic offensive play the Bengals have produced in quite some time. Soon enough, teams will have to start playing in more nickel packages because of Hawkins which will help open up the running game and take some pressure off of Andy Dalton. Hawkins gets the game ball for his performance on Sunday.
Offensive Line
The offensive line was not nearly as dominant on either side as they were against Baltimore. They allowed too much pressure to get to Dalton too often and they did not open up any of those gaping holes in the line for BenJarvus Green-Ellis as we saw last Monday. They are still a unit that is trying to gel as they haven’t been working with each other for a long time which is the recipe for a good offensive line. They should continue to improve as the season goes on which will help the offense mightily because it will allow tight end Jermaine Gresham to become more of a receiver. Gresham has had to stay in to help pass protect more than usual lately and the offensive line needs to be able to function on their own to allow Dalton to have all of his weapons at his disposal.
Marvin Lewis
Kudos goes to Coach Lewis for his performance this past Sunday. He kept his foot on the gas throughout the entire game and allowed his young quarterback to pass deep into the fourth quarter. In the past Lewis has been known to try to kill the clock way too early on in a game and allow a comeback from his opposition. This week, he managed the game in a much better fashion. He is also showing some more courage and confidence in his offensive unit as he allowed them to attempt yet another fourth down which they converted. Hopefully this will be a trend that Lewis can keep up for an entire season.
That will do it for this edition of Called Out. Be sure to once again post your thoughts about this game in the comment section below or message us on Twitter.
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