Getting wins in the regular season of the NFL is not easy Bengal fans know that getting playoff wins come even harder. After seeing last night’s defeat of the Baltimore Ravens and their MVP QB Lamar Jackson it forced me to think of all of the Andy Dalton haters out there. I like Andy but he is the type of QB that needs a stronger team around him to succeed. Players like Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady and the remaining list of the greats all will their players to be better around them. Our hope is that Joe Burrow falls into that later list and can lead us to playoff victories and a Super Bowl.
In two playoff games Lamar Jackson has 3 TD, 3 INT, 3 FUM and has been sacked 11 times. He is also a running player so I will not ignore the stats of 197 yards rushing, 0 TDs and 1 fumble. Although Lamar is still young not all QBs are afforded such a break. It was the team around Lamar that was blamed last night. Mark Ingram disappeared, the Titan defense was putting a lot of pressure on Lamar and their secondary and LBs limited his use of TE’s that were so useful all season.
In the playoffs Dalton is allergic to big plays and TDs. In four games he has only one TD and 6 INTs but only 1 FUM. Andy doesn’t have legs so removing the run game from the equation forced Dalton to pass more. His completion percentage on average is higher (64%, 46%, 56% and 51%) versus Jackson’s (48% and 52%).
So what is my point here? It’s hard to win playoff games. Lamar is the MVP this year, Andy was arguably the best QB in 2015 before he injured his thumb for the season. Dalton is not going to be a Bengal next year and he will go down as an underachieving QB who never could win a big game. Statistically I cannot argue that but before we throw shade on #14 let’s keep it all in perspective.