membengal

I want the Bengals to lose each of their remaining games 50-0 and for 10 people to show up for the last home game against the Raiders.

I am pretty much broken until Marvin and Hue are shot into the sun. And Lazor too.

Any scenario where hue becomes coach in waiting again is a peculiar bengals-esque hellscape of sadness.

This is a bad post. Post better. No one is spiking anything. Pollack is working with what he was given, and doing WAY better with it than Alexander did. He's also refusing to play Ogbuehi and Fisher, so, there's that. The team is averaging 27.6 ppg and Mixon is averaging more yards per carry than Todd Gurley. Andy is on his way to potentially his best passing season ever. You re-litigating Whit being gone is stupid, in the context of whether this team is better off with Pollack over Alexander. I'm tired of rampant negativity so will be taking a break again. Have at it.

Before everyone rushes to laud the Cowboys, for reasons that remain inexplicable, they HIRED Alexander after the shit-show that was the Bengals offensive line last year. Just saying.

I am also laughing.

Burfict is at 251. He's in good physical shape. He's probably not in football shape. And he's never going to be what he was because he can't play his game the same way anymore. I have been Marvin'd. Time to take some time away for my own sanity.

Dennard hurt his shoulder on the play where Smith-Shuster made that crazy catch over him. He was out the entire second half.

Back-up receivers who cannot catch the ball are useless. The drop by Core killed a drive when the game was 7-7 and instead yielded a punt that led to a Steelers drive that put them up 14-7. I cannot imagine why Core is getting run ahead of Malone, but, whatever.They do need Ross, if only to keep Core off the field.I don't understand why Green seems to have such a hard time getting going in "big" games. Those two drops early were awful from him, and something we have seen too often from him in big games in his otherwise awesome career.Mixon didn't touch the ball enough. Did they have him on a pitch count? Because he was off the field for the last half of the second quarter, I think, at least two full drives. Makes no sense to give those touches to Walton.Defensively, they were so damn hurt that I am guessing they went vanilla to try and just slow Pittsburgh down, and I guess it worked? Until the end? Marvin and Andy's clock management on the almost winning drive sucked balls. They were first and ten from the 11 with two timeouts and snapped the ball with 1:27 on the game clock but had 18 seconds left on the play clock. You are either gonna score on that drive or lose, unless the argument is that slowing down hurts your chances to finish, I don't get what the hurry was by that point. That's simply a case of the coach and qb and staff not understanding the game or how vulnerable their defense was. That was what would have happened in Atlanta if they had scored too quickly. I am not advocating NOT trying to score, but they should have forced the Steelers to use a timeout or let those 18 seconds drain before snapping the first and ten.Marvin has to try coaching big games eventually with an eye toward being up two scores late, leave it close, and the officials will never call it straight when one of the NFL's favored teams is involved. Put differently, if that exact same pick play happened and it was the Steelers running it against the Patriots, the flag comes out. Pittsburgh has the same problem beating New England that we have against Pittsburgh, and the Steelers fans complain constantly that New England gets all the calls in those games. Guess what? They do. Same as Pittsburgh gets the benefit against us. In the pecking order of preferred outcomes, we will always get screwed. I am tired of that game and losing it.

One end of game hail mary. Two balls tipped in air by his wide receivers. But you do you.

Seriously, I am salty as hell that Dalton was never given this coaching and practice on this before this year. I frankly didn't think it was something you could practice, I guess, since no one had ever done that with him. I assumed the ability to move in the pocket while feeling the pressure and keep your eyes downfield was something you had or you didn't. Apparently, it is also something that can be practiced. One of the quietly biggest things that happened last off-season was the Packers letting Alex Van Pelt go (remember how angry Rodgers was about that?). His hire here has unlocked a version of Dalton so far better than what we have seen in the past, even at his best. Even in 2015, handling pressure wasn't a strong point for him. So far, in 2018, it has been. And it is absolutely making a crucial difference. They don't win the Miami game without this version of Dalton.

I am gonna go ahead and re-focus on Dalton and Van Pelt. As luck would have it, Hobson dropped a timely article this AM that picks up on what I started the thread with. Spoiler alert: it is not my imagination, Dalton has been way better under pressure this year than in the past, and it is because they have actually PRACTICED for it. Who knew? (Apparently not the previous Bengals qb coaches...): Writes Hobson: https://www.bengals.com/news/dalton-melts-the-pressure When the Bengals show it down with the Steelers Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium (1 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Channel 12), quarterback Andy Dalton has his team 4-1 while taking a page from Big Ben’s playbook.For years (14 to be exact), Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has barged his way to Canton by torturing the AFC North with big play after big play roaming out of the pocket away from pressure or literally throwing under pressure with bodies hanging on him like some horror movie. (Remember when he made like Dracula and came out of the crypt in the Wild Card Game after the Bengals’ pressure had seeming driven a stake through his heart?)But Dalton comes into Sunday, according to profootballfocus.com, as one of the best passers in the league under pressure. Never a big part of his game until quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt arrived this season, Dalton is tied with Tom Brady and Philip Rivers with the second most touchdown passes under pressure (five) and the seventh best passer rating in the NFL at 83.3.That comes after a season he finished 19th in passer rating (75.9) and threw just six TD passes under the gun for his career high. Dalton points to the bag of disaster drills Van Pelt brought with him from his decade-long career coaching NFL quarterbacks.“I’m glad he’s here. Good stuff,” Dalton said after Thursday’s practice.Before Van Pelt, this minister of mayhem, got into coaching he was an NFL back-up quarterback for another decade and lived the pressure. Then he went to Green Bay and helped Aaron Rodgers join Roethlisberger for a Night at the Improv in Canton one day.“Every quarterback should be able to drop back and throw a 5 route or come-back route in a clean pocket,” Van Pelt said. “Any quarterback should be able to do that. It’s when the body is under duress. That’s my approach. It’s when you have to throw off your back foot or throw when your left foot is behind your right foot and you’re all messed up down below. That’s what we try to emphasize during those individual periods.”So Van Pelt makes his quarterbacks practice the worst-looking throws this side of a middle-school game. The really great completion to Van Pelt looks more like a Beechmont Avenue fender-bench rather than an Andrew Wyeth painting 50 yards through the seascape. “A lot of awkward throws,” Dalton said. “Not being set. Not being in the same spot. Not having your feet in the right spot all the time. What we’ve been doing in practice we’ve been able to apply in a game.”Exhibit A came last Sunday against the Dolphins. Dalton’s 18-yard touchdown pass with his legs chained in the embrace of Miami defensive end Charles Harris turned the tide of the game when it came moments after the Bengals defense held on third-and-a-foot. The how-did-he-do-that frustration of the Miami defenders when they saw running back Joe Mixon haul it in was palpable and a precursor.“That was a classic,” Van Pelt said. “Free rusher. Stepped up. Ball security tucking it under his left arm pit to keep it away from the defender. Leaned into the free rusher and broke through. That’s the epitome of what we’re doing.”But Dalton’s favorite throw of the day may have come earlier in the game. They went play-action and there was more action than play from the Dolphins as they swarmed him.He moved up in the pocket and ended up no only throwing on the run, but throwing while running forward and not being able to get a thing on the ball. It was a wobbler, but a perfectly thrown wobbler to wide receiver A.J. Green working the right sideline for his longest catch of the day on a 23-yarder.“Threw it to a spot,” Dalton said. “That was one of my better throws.“It’s similar what we do in the drills. We don’t have anybody hanging on us (like the TD) and you throw it. But it helps. There were definitely no legs in that throw.”The throw to Mixon emphasized Van Pelt’s emphasis. But maybe even more indicative of his play against a swarm was his alertness in the pocket in Atlanta when he didn’t give up a strip-sack in the winning drive. “Big teaching points are you have to disconnect you upper and lower body,” Van Pelt said. “Your lower body may be in a different state, but your upper body still has to be able to throw accurately … If you practice the hard stuff, it’s easier in the game. “He’s a good athlete. He can run. I hope it’s helped him. I hoped it’s made him more comfortable.”Two years ago Van Pelt commandeered Rodgers through a season he led the league passing under pressure with a ridiculous 12 touchdowns against one interception. Dalton has two picks this year under pressure, but the concept is the same. “In practice we’d break down plays so we could use the scramble drill and the receivers would get used to reacting to him out of the pocket,” Van Pelt said. “You get about six to eight plays a game that are unscripted like that and they’re always the potential for big plays.”Exhibit B: In Carolina, chased out of the pocket against a five-man pressure, Dalton ended up having to throw across his body when he glimpsed wide receiver Tyler Boyd continuing his route across the back of the end zone for a 27-yard touchdown. Running to the left? Dalton made it look easy. “You can get big plays against pressure. A lot of times there’s not as many guys in coverage,” Dalton said. “I think it shows our offensive line is picking stuff up and our guys are playing fast.” Meanwhile, the minister of mayhem keeps drilling. “To me, that’s something you have to work on because they’re such big plays,” Van Pelt said. “You can score on them or change field position.”

Right. What skyline said. Read the piece i pasted. The pressure has been there just as much this year - even more - and he’s handling it better. Literally, it’s a better version of dalton. That’s what my eyes have seen - when he gets pressure he is still looking to make a play downfield - and has been successful doing so. That IS a new thing for him, frankly. As good as he was in 2015 - pressure was still his Achilles heel. Has been less of an issue this year, for what I am guessing are many reasons. But it’s a better dalton than we have had before, I think. Which is saying something, because he’s been really good at times in the past.

Iloka has barely played for Minnesota. Literally, he's been on the field 7 snaps I believe, and five of those on special teams.

Nice to see the stats back up what my eyes have seen - which is that Dalton is doing much better under pressure than the past. Not sure why, Lazor's offense gives him more a chance to bail on plays? Van Pelt's coaching (his eyes sure seem to be more downfield when he moves in the pocket than they used to be)? Simply him growing as a qb as happens with experience? A combo? Dunno, but it has been really easy to notice, and welcome to see.