In a battle of quarterbacks from Texas, it appeared that Ryan Tannehill would come out as the victor early on. The former Big Spring quarterback hit Kenny Stills early on for a 74 yard touchdown, and it seemed like the Dolphins were going to rout the Bengals.
Andy Dalton is a product of one of the most storied programs in Texas, the Katy Tigers. One of the hallmarks of that program is never giving up, even when you get down early. Dalton surely took that to heart, as the Bengals weren’t fazed by the early score from Tannehill and went on to win handily by a score of 22-7.
The former TCU and Katy quarterback has had a solid start to the year for the 2-2 Cincinnati squad, throwing for over 250 yards in three of their four games this year. He’s thrown for over 350 twice, and is boasting three touchdowns to only two interceptions.
On a night where his Texan counterpart Tannehill struggled, Dalton found a groove, hitting on 70.97 percent of his passes en route to throwing for 296 yards and a touchdown. Dalton’s taken some flack over the years for not performing as well as most hoped he would, but when good Andy Dalton shows up, he shows up in a major way.
The Bengals are going to need Dalton to perform as consistently as he did last night if they’re going to compete in the AFC North. Their losses this year came at the hands of the Denver Broncos and the Pittsburgh Steelers, two teams that are near the top of the league in recent years. The Bengals’ defense played excellently, but they’ll ultimately need quarterback play to take the next step into deep playoff contention. They have the talent to be a competitor in the AFC North, but will need to fight through two good squads in the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers in order to get there.
Andy Dalton is one of the keys for the Bengals this year. He needs to remain consistent and put some points on the board if the Bengals are going to compete. Luckily for Cincinnati, the former Katy Tiger knows all about mental toughness and never backing down.
