Fantasy Football: Andy Dalton struggles mean A.J. Green struggles
By Jason Marcum
But not all the blame can be placed on a lack of opportunities to hook-up. At one point Sunday, he missed a deep-throw to Green after he’d beaten cornerback Buster Skrine for what would have been a go-ahead score in the first-half, but overshot him and they ultimately lost 17-6 in a game that was separated by just one score for all but five minutes.
"“I’ve got to do a better job of giving him (Green) a chance to make plays,” Dalton said. “I think that’s what he is so good at, when the ball’s in the air making plays, when it’s him and one other guy or him and a couple guys. When it comes down to it, we have to be better.”"
The way this offense is, there aren’t going to be a lot of opportunities for Dalton to hit Green for big plays, but when they do arise, he’s got to be better about capitalizing on them.
Adding to his struggles, Dalton’s deep-ball accuracy continued to be nonexistent, as was just 4/17 on passes that traveled 10 yards or more.
And while the offensive line struggled to get consistent push and leverage on a stout Browns defensive line, you can’t blame them for his passing struggles:
Bengals pass pro not the problem. Pressure on just 7 of 46 dropbacks yesterday. Only P.Manning pressured on less plays than Dalton this year
— PFF (@PFF) September 30, 2013
The fact of the matter is that Dalton has to find a way to be more consistent and get the ball to his best playmaker in Green.
That, or A.J. will be seeing a lot of 5-7 reception for 40-80 receiving yard lines this year while the offense struggles to break the 20-point mark in close games.
No one wants that, but until Dalton improves or offensive coordinator Jay Gruden finds a way to free Green up in different ways, this is the painful result that will be often seen this year,