Repost: Bengals Site Talking About Dalton in September
Sep 29, 2013; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns wide receiver Travis Benjamin (80) runs after a catch during the first quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
This is a Repost of an article following the Browns defeat of the Bengals in late September. RiverFrontBall had some interesting thoughts on Andy Dalton, that may be brought back up in Cincinnati after today’s playoff performance. Read through and then you can answer in the comments below: As a Browns fan would you rather be “stuck” with Dalton or have the opportunity the Browns have to draft a QB in the 2014 draft?
Prior to yesterday’s game we asked and answered some questions with RiverFrontBall a Cincinnati based site. Following the game yesterday we asked them some questions to get perspective from the fan base down there. Here is what they had to say following the Browns Defeat of the Bengals.
Browns and Bengals Grades from Week 4
1) You talked about concerns with Dalton prior to the game, any chance he loses his job this year? Or just getting competition this off-season?
1) Knowing the Bengals front office and Marvin Lewis I highly doubt that he will lose his job. They seem committed to Dalton, but there could be some competition for him. The question then comes who do they bring in to compete with Dalton? There are no great quarterbacks in the draft this season unless the Bengals are bad enough to grab Teddy Bridgewater. Veteran wise once again there are no real franchise quarterbacks out there.
2) AJ Green was held in check most of the day. Often he seemed frustrated and giving less then full effort, has that ever been a issue with Green? Did you see the same thing?
2) Yeah we saw much of the same thing. He is definitely frustrated with his role. He has been told he is the #1 player on offense, he’s the guy yet Dalton doesn’t give him much to work with. He appeared frustrated in the Steelers game this season when he wasn’t targeted at all in the first quarter. Dalton continually misses throws, that hurts Green’s chances of making a catch. But yeah he did appear to give up and that is a little disheartening for Bengals fans.
3) Will Bernard take over the running position? No team has run well on the Browns this year but Bernard had more spark then BGJE. Is Lewis likely to stay with vets or go with the rookies?
3) Gio definitely deserves the starting job, he has been incredible for a rookie this season. He has a greater spark than BJGE but knowing Marvin Lewis he will probably ride the veteran for know. Gio only has 110 yards on the season but he’s so flashy he can excite the offense. He can also receive better than BJGE so its really a toss up on where Marvin will go but it looks like BJGE will remain the starter.
4) Was this a case of a let down after the Green Bay game? How can this loss be explained?
4) That is the only thing it can be. The win last weekend was huge for the Bengals. Green Bay has played incredibly well this season, even though they are 1-2 the record is not indicative of their talent. So winning that game in the fashion they did was huge for Cincinnati, a 2-1 record, so much excitement and playing the Browns all contributed to this let down. Cincinnati teams historically play down to what they consider weaker teams. That happened today. Cleveland’s defense was immensely better than anyone in Cincinnati expected. This loss can only be explained by pointing to the bad play of Andy Dalton. 24/42 203 yards is embarrassing, something needs to change. But hats off to the Browns though Hoyer and the whole team played well.
5) What is the fall out in Cincy this week?
5) This is Cincinnati, the only fall out will be from the fan base. Lots of angry sports talk calls, a lot of news reports on the trouble with the Bengals. Expect to see some empty seats next weekend at Paul Brown, or certainly more Patriots fans than if the Bengals were winning. As for fallout from the team I don’t expect anything. There may be a players only meeting but this team lacks a clear leader so that likely won’t happen. With this being Cincinnati they will likely come out and put up 35 next weekend on the Patriots, its hard to tell how they will react now.
Interesting to hear from their fan base after losing to a team they expected to beat.