Andy Dalton Is In The House

The Cincinnati Bengals are a fourth of the way through their season and it has come as a surprise to many football skeptics. They are 6-0 and coming off of a statement come-from-behind win, over the Seattle Seahawks, in Week 5.

They have been able to match the best start in the history of the franchise with ease. A big part of that success is due to the play of Andy Dalton at quarterback. His game has been on point and off the chain. In fact, Dalton’s mechanics are in the house. Football purists should give him a round of applause.

Dalton has been the poster boy for “no love given” for four years. He took control of the Bengals offense in 2011 and hasn’t been able to deliver a playoff win for Cincinnati. Most thought it was the lack of grit, the lack of substantial weapons to lean on. All of those may be true. But the main thing that held Andy Dalton back was Andy Dalton himself.

According to a 2014 post by the NFL Network, Dalton was a fallen star and the Bengals had attached themselves to his losing ways. There was no growth in his game and Dalton’s decision-making, rather than his arm strength, was preventing the Bengals’ offense from reaching its potential. In essence, there was no need to have faith Dalton could turn his sinking ship around.

This is a different year and Dalton’s mechanics are in the house.

Andy and the Bengals sought the help of Tom House. Dalton began off-season tutoring with the man who has become known in NFL circles as the “guru” of quarterback mechanics. House, a former MLB pitcher, has turned into the NFL’s most popular tutor. House’s baseball success is centered on his coaching of Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson.

Adam Dedeaux, one of House’s coaches, came to Paul Brown Stadium Tuesday to meet with Dalton and said that there’s not much for him to do with Dalton, since he’s playing so well.

Dedeaux mentioned that towards the end of the 2014 season, Dalton’s mechanics were starting to suffer. He was falling into some old habits that he had picked up along the way. His passer rating slipped from a more than respectable 95.4 to 83.5 with 17 interceptions.

So far this year, Dalton has been free of the habits that sank him during the last part of the year and into the playoffs.

“The way he is preparing for games is showing up on the field. His body movements overall have been very clean,” Dedeaux said via the Bengals website. “There were times last year he got out of mechanical efficiency and I haven’t seen that at all this year. We haven’t seen what we saw last year and I think it comes from his attention to detail and sticking to the process.”

The numbers are staggering. Dalton is on pace to break Bengals’ franchise-passing records, if his otherworldly play continues. Dalton’s sparkling 116.1 passer rating is second behind Tom Brady’s 118.4. Brady is also a House client.

How convincing is the good doctor House? The Bengals are so confident of his staff and their coaching, they had backup quarterback AJ McCarron spend time with the gurus. His efficiency and technique have improved so greatly, the Bengals are only carrying him and Dalton as the signal callers on their roster.

Bengals fans are not seeing “Playoff Andy” or “Bad Andy” so far this year. The off-season sessions seem to be the reason Dalton is keeping pace with the elite quarterbacks of the league. The next step is to stay in the house with them and win like they do.

{Feature Photo by Patrick Smith / Getty Images]