Andy Dalton Not To Blame For Cincinnati Bengals’ Week 5 Loss
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It was too good to be true, Cincinnati Bengals fans will say.
The Bengals were among the top teams in the NFL through the first four weeks of the season, but the New England Patriots proved on Sunday night that Cincinnati’s 3-0 start didn’t mean much.
If Bengals fans were looking for a scapegoat, however, they should not look at Andy Dalton. The natural tendency is to blame Dalton. After all, he is the quarterback who has gotten the Bengals to the playoffs the last two years, but has had no luck getting them past the first round. On Sunday night, Dalton threw for over 200 yards and two touchdowns, and he only missed on nine pass attempts. Put simply, Dalton was doing his part but his supporting cast wasn’t on the same page.
Want to point a finger? Turn it toward the running game.
Giovanni Bernard gained 62 yards for the Bengals while the other ball carriers gained a combined 17 yards. A running game like that won’t win you too many ballgames. A rushing attack has to have better production than that. This was a loss to a team bent on proving it was still relevant to the NFL’s postseason landscape. Playing at Gillette Stadium in the southern suburbs of Boston didn’t make things any easier for Cincinnati.
The Bengals are still one of the top teams in the AFC North and even in the entire AFC, despite this loss to the Patriots. They are still in first place in the division by a half-game over the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Don’t blame Dalton for this. It’s one loss.
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