Invitations to the Pro Bowl were handed out generously this year. Although Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton had statistically the worst year of his career, he still managed to make a Pro Bowl squad. Dalton actually finished on the bottom half of QB performances for the year. After an absolutely legendary season with 19 touchdowns and 17 interceptions Chris Carter decided to ruin his team by picking Dalton for his team.
In the actual game, Andy Dalton completed 9 of 20 passes for 69 yards and zero touchdowns or interceptions. By contrast, the other five quarterbacks in the game (Andrew Luck, Tony Romo, Drew Brees, Matthew Stafford and Matt Ryan) all performed much better, combining to complete 52 of 78 passes for 745 yards, eight touchdowns and two picks.
What probably pushed the fans past being friendly was Dalton’s performance in his team’s final drive, in which it trailed, 32-28, with just over three minutes left. The quarterback drove “Team Carter” to the 19-yard line, mostly by either handing the ball off, or throwing short passes, to running backs Alfred Morris and Justin Forsett.
Once at the 19, with over a minute left, Dalton was able to accomplish nothing. He attempted four passes, including two more to Morris and one to regular-season security blanket A.J. Green, and all four missed their marks, the final one by a laughably large margin. He was booed off the field, a fitting end to the 2014 season.
Dalton has one sympathizer, Drew Brees. “You’re running a bunch of plays that you don’t have a lot of familiarity with and you don’t have a lot of familiarity with the personnel. Usually in crunch-time situations you know the stuff you know and you want to call and you don’t have access to that and you’re kind of at the mercy of what is in the playbook.”
With every playoff loss on Dalton’s back Bengals fan grow wearier of the ginger quarterback. Despite Dalton leading the Bengals to four straight playoff losses, the Bengals decided to ruin any chance of success by giving him a six year 115 million dollar contract.
Many Cincinnatians have been calling for change. Senior Sam Coffaro claimed, “It’s hard to be an Andy Dalton fan because he’s so inconsistent and I’d like to see Aj McCarron get a shot,” Coffaro said. “I’d even be happy with giving Campbell a look.”
Junior Ryan Sullivan is “upset with his lack of maturation within these first four years.” “It doesn’t look like he is getting any better,” said Sullivan.
One common criticism of the red rifle is his lack of emotion when things go badly. He always has that same bland expression on his face no matter what happens. I for one would love to see some anguish after he throws a pick or doesn’t complete a pass.
It’s depressing for the franchise that they’re are stuck with him for at least 2 more years. The Bengals have many pieces needed to compete in the playoffs, but that will never happen with a lackluster quarterback at the helm.