Maybe he just wanted to get it all out of his system. Maybe he didn’t eat his Wheaties for breakfast. Whatever the reason, Andy Dalton was putrid in Week 1.
During the Cincinnati Bengals’ home opener — a 20-0 shutout beat down by their rivals, the Baltimore Ravens — Dalton engineered a comedy of errors. He finished the game with 170 yards on 16-of-33 passing, did not throw a single touchdown, was picked off four times (once right in the end zone, when the game was still just 3-0 in favor of Baltimore), fumbled the ball away once and completely ruined any chance the Bengals had of winning.
Andy Dalton, by the numbers:
16-31 for 170 Yards, 4 INT, 1 FUML
1 Rush for 2 Yards
1 Loss, entirely on his shoulders
— Luke Ovgard (@LukeOvgard) September 10, 2017
This was a game in which Cincinnati was favored to win. Given how poorly he played, it’s not surprising the folks on Twitter laid into Dalton extremely hard.
Fun fact: if you look up the word garbage in the dictionary, there will be a picture of Andy dalton next to it
— Jacob (@zennnki) September 10, 2017
Wow Andy Dalton crowd surfing https://t.co/FuOdV3iFuH
— jake 🎲 (@beforetwinpeaks) September 10, 2017
Live look at Andy Dalton's first half…. pic.twitter.com/cKKQmcWilI
— Andrew Justin (@COSportsNut) September 10, 2017
Andy Dalton understands better then most that throwing redzone INTs is actualy a great way 2 pin ur opponet deep. Why Kaps not in the league
— PFT Commenter (@PFTCommenter) September 10, 2017
As part of his yearly charity work, Andy Dalton is donating footballs today to needy Raven defenders who have no footballs to call their own
— NOTSportsCenter (@NOTSportsCenter) September 10, 2017
Andy Dalton is my favorite Raven!!!!!
— Mike Preston (@MikePrestonSun) September 10, 2017
https://twitter.com/NattyPurtell/status/906938615481192450
https://twitter.com/jackheather26/status/906970792302399488
Serious question: why would you NOT put in A.J. McCarron right here? Dalton has been atrocious. #Bengals
— Brian Stultz (@brianjstultz) September 10, 2017
That last one is a valid question. Though, we know Marvin Lewis is extremely slow to do anything “rash,” which is why he’s never once coached the Bengals to a playoff win.
Cincinnati absolutely crapped the bed in Week 1. It was the worst possible way to start out the season after going 6-9-1 last year. Looks like the recovery needs a bit of work, guys.