The Red Rifle just got some much needed ammunition.
There’s no doubt that Andy Dalton — still on his rookie contract — was scheduled to be massively underpaid in 2014. In the final year of that rookie deal, Dalton was set to only bring in roughly $1.7 million. Now, Dalton has a longterm deal and the Bengals have apparently decided that they were satisfied enough with Dalton to have him guiding the team for the next six years.
Dalton is 30-18 as a starter and has took the team to the playoffs in each of his first three seasons. The problem for Dalton, however, has been winning in the playoffs. He’s 0-3 in the postseason.
That stat alone isn’t enough to indict Dalton. But, there’s a reason why Dalton struggles in the postseason. And, that reason is enough to indict Dalton as a quarterback not worthy of his $115 million deal. In the GIF above, you should be able to spot the reason why Dalton is picked off: pass pressure.
Unfortunately, Bill Barnwell beat me to this, already publishing his take on the Dalton deal on Grantland:
Andy Dalton is not without merit, but he has one major problem that needs to be corrected: He can’t reliably handle pass pressure.”
Barnwell elaborates:
When the blitzes actually make it home? That’s when Dalton falls apart. Naturally, everybody gets worse under these circumstances. No quarterback wants to run through his reads with J.J. Watt bearing down. That’s human nature. Among the 34 quarterbacks with 500 or more dropbacks over this three-year stretch, the average passer’s QBR was cut by more than half (52.4 percent) when he was either hassled or hit by a pass-rusher. Dalton is not so lucky. Already just a league-average quarterback when nobody’s bothering him, Dalton’s QBR under duress falls to a lowly 11.1, a drop of 81.4 percent. That leaves him as the fifth-most stressed by pressure, and the four guys in front of him don’t make for a bright future.”
Those four guys that worse than Andy Dalton?
- Matt Hasselbeck, Brandon Weeden, Sam Bradford, and Mark Sanchez.
Look, I get why the Bengals extended Dalton. He’s won games for his team and has posted solid stats in the process. And it’s hard enough to find a quarterback of that caliber in the NFL. Ask the Oakland Raiders, N.Y. Jets, Buffalo Bills, or Arizona Cardinals. I think they’d all take Dalton in a heartbeat.
But, if the Bengals’ goal is to win the Super Bowl — which it is — then I’m not sold on this idea that Dalton is going to get them there in the next six years. Not when he has a glaring weakness that teams are going to be able to exploit by simply bringing an extra pass rusher to the equation.
[ESPN] and [Grantland]
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