Cincinnati Bengals: 3 Reasons they beat Browns in Week 4
By Kenn Korb
2. Keeping Pressure Off Dalton
By now, it should be clear to anyone who watches football that applying pressure to a quarterback causes them to play worse. It’s also crystal clear that among current quarterbacks, Cincinnati’s Andy Dalton is one of the most negatively impacted by pressure.
It’s been discussed throughout the course of his career (and even before it officially started). Midway through the 2012 season. Many times leading up to and during the 2014 season. Entering the 2015 season. Coming into 2016. Endlessly and incessantly before and during this young season. It’s such a well-known constant it should have it’s own law by now (and possibly could if not for an eerily-named-but-completely-unrelated law, Dalton’s Law of Partial Pressures, already holding that glorious moniker).
More from NFL Spin Zone
- Dallas Cowboys made the trade everyone else should have made
- Pittsburgh Steelers rookie sleeper everyone should be talking about
- Anthony Richardson putting jaw-dropping talent on display immediately
- Denver Broncos’ stud wide receiver might be out for a while
- Washington Commanders: Three takeaways from win over Ravens
The way to beat the Dalton-led Bengals defensively is plain as day: Put bodies on and around him, and he will devolve into a happy-footed, sloppy, inconsistent mess that can’t hit his mark even on plays where he has all day to throw. With the abysmal offensive line Cincinnati has constructed this year, those flaws have become even more spotlighted. As such, through three weeks it prevented the unit from finding the end zone through two games and leaving them unable to finish off key drives in a third.
Even in a Cincinnati-favored blowout, the flaws weren’t exactly absent. Dalton was sacked three times and gave the ball away on an early fumble. Overall, however, he was kept much more comfortable than we’d seen through the first three games of Cincinnati’s season.
He led the Bengals in Pro Football Focus’ grades for the afternoon according to their Refocused recap, and it was due to less overall pressure being placed on him. After being pressured on around a third of his total dropbacks through three weeks, PFF measured that Dalton faced pressure on just 18.9 percent of his snaps against the Browns. This helped him produce (among other things) the best adjusted completion percentage (88.0), highest passer rating (145.3), and most touchdown passes (4) of any quarterback on Sunday.
This version of Dalton can lead Cincinnati to victory against practically any team out there. He’ll probably never get beyond his issues with opposing pressure, but if his line can keep him upright and unflustered the way they did overall against Cleveland going forward, these Bengals may actually stand a chance at jumping squarely in playoff race towards the end of the year.