Return of QB Andy Dalton – NFL Feature
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton has become a young offence sensation in the league, although his start to this season was subdued. He however managed to stage a strong comeback since end of the season’s first quarter and has been in superb since
then.
The Bengals started the season with a miserable loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Then pulled off a victory, and then lost a few more games straight. During all these games the offence failed to make an impression on the field. This frustrated coach Marvin Lewis
and he issued a stark warning to Dalton and running backs to prove their credentials as leaders.
Apparently, the warning proved to be a turning point for Dalton and since then he is unstoppable. So have been the Cincinnati Bengals. The team at one point left behind the competitors such as the New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoff race.
Before almost four games earlier in the season, Dalton’s performance was insignificant to record, but since then he has progressed so well that his accumulated pass completion rate recently stood at 62 percent, a remarkable achievement for a young offence
leader.
Until the game 14 of the season, Dalton had completed 295 out 472 attempted passes for 3,313 yards. He had 26 touchdowns, 14 interceptions and four fumbles.
Most importantly, he pulled out the Bengals from certain crisis. It appeared with the way they lost their first game to the Ravens that the playoff chance would be very remote for them, but when Dalton gained form, the trend on the points table changed.
Coach Lewis recognised that the offence leader was in the same old touch and it proved to be some sort of consolatory point for him that they could progress through the season successfully.
It is second straight year that Dalton has attained so much success at such a tender tenure of his career. He surprised many of his critics with superb form and some excellent display of skills during his rookie year, and promised the young Bengals side
a great future.
His critics let the cat out of bag again this season as soon as the quarterback hit slump in the beginning of the season but his later performance silenced them all. Lewis now acknowledges that he knew the quarterback was capable of repeating the same old
form and this was the reason he exercised patience with him in the beginning of the season.
It was the trust of the coach that paid off finally, and Dalton said to be grateful for the official for allowing him space and time to regain his lost touch. Although there have been a few bad patches in the performance of the quarterback, overall he has
excelled in all areas.
This is pertinent to note here that other players on the offensive line have also responded well along the strongly built momentum by Dalton. They have been through the same sluggish form when the offence leader was struggling on his end. The running backs
and receivers have shown great improvement since then, and if they are able to sustain the same level of form in future there is no reason that the Bengals should not progress further in the league.
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