No More Excuses for Andy Dalton

Andy Dalton may be under the most pressure of any quarterback in 2019. He either wins playoff games this year or never in Cincinnati.

A 68-50 record as a starting quarterback in the NFL and three trips to the Pro Bowl is nothing to sneeze at. That is exactly what Andy Dalton has. Still, his career is mostly about his winless playoff record and all the things the Bengals franchise has not done with him under center.

Even the staunchest Dalton defenders will admit that he is not in the same class as someone like Tom Brady. Brady carries rosters with not much talent outside of himself to Super Bowl contention year after year. There are about four guys on planet Earth who fall in to that group. There is no shame in not doing so.

Like the vast majority of quarterbacks, Dalton has to be built around correctly if you are going to win games in January or February with him. Thus, Dalton defenders will rightly argue that football is a team sport and the team hasn’t been good enough for Dalton yet.

That argument no longer holds up. First, it seems to have been forgotten by many that the Bengals were 5-3 last year before falling apart. This included putting up 30+ points on eventual playoff teams Baltimore and Indianapolis. Dalton combined with Joe Mixon, A.J. Green, and Tyler Boyd is as good an offensive foursome as the NFL has to offer. They are all in minicamp and healthy. They did not finish last year that way.

Cincinnati also made it a point to retool the offensive line in free agency and the draft. The defense has no choice but to improve from last year. Even so, the Bengals will likely have to win some shootouts this year. This personnel can do that.

The other part of the pro Dalton argument has always been coaching. Contrary to what the last three years would tell you, as a whole, Marvin Lewis did a nice job in Cincinnati. However, his approach got stale at the end. Coaching held the entire team back, not just Dalton.

Sean McVay gets all the credit for turning Jared Goff’s career around, but new Bengals head coach Zac Taylor was Goff’s position coach last year with the Rams. In short, Taylor got the job because of his work with quarterbacks. If Dalton has a “next level”, Taylor can find it.

Everything an NFL quarterback needs to win playoff games and the Super Bowl is now in place in Cincinnati. This is not arguable anymore. Dalton is one playoff win away from never having to buy a drink in Cincinnati again. He is one string of playoff wins away from rearranging his place in Bengals, and possibly NFL history.

However, he is also likely one more injury plagued or disappointing season away from giving way to 2019 draft pick Ryan Finley or some other young quarterback.