Cincinnati Bengals' Week 4 & 5 MVP: Pacman, Dalton

Oct 11, 2015; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton (14) dives into the end zone for a touchdown in the second half against the Seattle Seahawks at Paul Brown Stadium. The Bengals won 27-24. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

In week four, the Bengals took on the Kansas City Chiefs and won 36-21. In week five, the Bengals also beat one of the top teams in Seattle, 27-24. Neither of these wins would have been possible without the exceptional play of Andy Dalton. For his contributions to both of these games, the week four MVP and the week 5 Co-MVP goes to the “Red Rifle”.

Andy Dalton has played extremely well in the first half of the season. He has been the runner up for this award for the first three weeks, but Dalton was the sole reason why Cincinnati came out on top at Paul Brown Stadium for the past two weeks in a row. Dalton threw for 321 yards and one touchdown against Kansas city and 331 yards for two touchdowns while also adding one on the ground against Seattle. Although Dalton’s numbers are very good they don’t portray the real impact that he had in these two games.

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Andy Dalton is playing very confident and it is showing. When we talk about “the good” Dalton, we still criticize how he forces the ball to AJ Green and how he struggles to throw the ball down field accurately. However this hasn’t been the case all season. Dalton is playing better than he ever have and make better throws than we seen in the past.

Against Kansas City, Dalton completed 70% while making big plays all game. For example, he threw a deep ball to Rex Burkhead on the sideline for a big first down. Dalton also threw Brandon Tate a 55yard touchdown pass on a broken play. Also during the game, Dalton hit Sanu for a 52 yard pass.

Due to Dalton’s play, Green had 7 catches for 82 yards, Sanu had 4 catches for 84 yards and Eifert, Jones, Burkhead and Tate all played a roll in the passing game as well. Even before Andy Dalton’s week 5 game he was playing the game at the same level as Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. In fact, Dalton was playing better than these two greats in some cases.

As the week four chart shows Dalton was a top 3 quarterback, after week 5 he could be the best in the league. After scoring on their initial drive Dalton and the rest of the team looked to have taken a step back , reverting back to their old ways. However, Dalton would not let the team fall. Even after Dalton looked to have lost some confidence after throwing only his second interception on the season, Dalton fought back,

Against the Legion of boom, Dalton caught fire making plays marching down the field. He brought the Bengals all the way back without the use of AJ Green. Instead Dalton looked to the rest of his weapons, Eifert, Jones and Bernard all made plays to help tie the game and force overtime.

While Dalton caught fire, the win wouldn’t have been possible without the other Co-MVP Adam Jones. With Vontaze Burfict out, the heart and soul of this defense I believe is Pacman. Although he caught a big time interception, it wasn’t his defensive contributions that made him Co-MVP, it was his punt returning prowess.

Jones sparked the fire with a big return when the offense needed it most setting the offense up to score the first touchdown in the comeback. Jones also made a good return that was called back due to a bad call by the refs. However, his emotion set the offense up to move down the field and score again. Jones turned the Bengals around and did so all with having a groin injury.

Week four MVP and Co-MVPs Andy Dalton and Adam Jones made it possible for the Bengals to reach 5-0 for the first time since the last super bowl year in 1988 and the first time in AFC North history since the realignment in 2002.

With Buffalo up next Dalton and Jones have made 6-0 a very realistic expectation. Lets see if Cincinnati can continue the success.

Next: Cincinnati Bengals Week Three MVP: A.J. Green