Dalton, 5-0 Bengals find new way to win
Let’s say Mike Nugent’s field goal attempt had bounced off one of the uprights and not between them and it was the Seattle Seahawks and not the Cincinnati Bengals escaping with an overtime win. How much would that change what we think about Andy Dalton’s team?
Cincinnati’s veteran left tackle, Andrew Whitworth, knows exactly how it would go: Same old Bengals, same old Andy.
“If we’d have lost this game, it means that we’re not fit for the postseason. It’s an unfair reality, and it’s kind of a joke at this point,” Whitworth told USA TODAY Sports.
“It’s 2015, this is the 2015 Bengals, and judge us on that. Judge us on every week and what we put on the field and how we play.”
Fortunately for Dalton and Co., Nugent’s kick took a good bounce and the Bengals overcame the Seahawks 27-24 to improve to 5-0.
So this is how we can judge the Bengals after their first true statement win of the season: They are good, possibly great, and the biggest reason is Dalton.
Sunday against the vaunted Seattle defense, which boasted the deepest pass rush and best secondary the Bengals had faced all season, Dalton led four scoring drives in the fourth quarter and overtime to erase a 24-7 deficit. He threw two touchdown passes to tight end Tyler Eifert, ran for a 5-yard score and finished with 331 passing yards, his third consecutive game over 300.
But the Bengals’ hot start is not just about Dalton’s precision passing, it’s also about a new swagger from the much-maligned quarterback who carries a 0-4 postseason record. He’s fearless and aggressive. And for the first time since the Bengals drafted him in 2011, Dalton has complete ownership of the offense.
It starts Wednesdays, when Dalton — and not offensive coordinator Hue Jackson — runs meetings with the wide receivers and tight ends. Dalton and Jackson spend so much time together that the message is the same, but Dalton brings extra tactical information directly from the film room to the classroom to the huddle.
There are moments when it plays out to perfection, as on receiver Marvin Jones’ 44-yard catch on the Bengals’ opening drive. Days earlier, Jones said, Dalton told him the exact moment to look back in that route.
That catch set up the Bengals’ first touchdown, a 14-yard pass to Eifert.
Later, Dalton found Eifert again in clutch situations — a 10yard score early in the fourth quarter, as the Bengals began their comeback, and a 25-yarder amid tight coverage from Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor to help set up the tying field goal.
They were gutsy throws and ones Dalton and his teammates just expect now will be completions.
“We don’t flinch, man. That’s our motto: Don’t flinch,” wide receiver A.J. Green said.
“It’s 2015, this is the 2015 Bengals, and judge us on that. Judge us on every week and what we put on the field and how we play.”
Bengals left tackle Andrew Whitworth