Cincinnati Bengals: 5 Ways Andy Dalton Can Succeed in 2011

Among all of the potential playoff teams of 2011, the Cincinnati Bengals are basically never involved in the conversation. Their all-pro receivers are gone and once-beloved quarterback is "retired".

Cincinnati is a team filled with young talent that has all the potential of coming through in the clutch.

Their ace in the hole—Andy Dalton.

The young man from TCU showed throughout college just how well he can play football. Questions have been raised about his pocket presence, but his arm in and of itself can make up for those problems.

Dalton is only a few weeks away from making his debut in the NFL (he's currently thought to be the starter). I have no doubts that he has the ability and the tools to succeed.

Throw, Throw, Throw

Given that Dalton is a quarterback, this seems rather obvious. Contrary to that, Mark Sanchez and Jimmy Clausen were both guys that shouldn't have been throwing the ball during their rookie season.

Dalton has incredible power and can be an absolute sharpshooter. The preseason hasn't been the best example of that, but that's what the preseason is around for. 

Dalton has plenty of receivers to spread the ball around to. Besides the Packers, they have one of the deepest receiving corps in all the league. If that doesn't set a young quarterback up for success, I don't know what does.

What Dalton needs to remember is to make smart passes. He made a career of being an over-the-top thrower in college, but he may have to be more of a straight-shooter in the NFL. By that I mean in college he went deep down the sidelines.

In the NFL, he'll need to thread the needle more often, and these receivers can find the gaps.

Be Able to Escape the Pocket

It's obvious that Andy Dalton is never going to be a Michael Vick-type athlete.

At TCU, he was quick to run—though that never took away from his passing skills. Ask Tim Tebow about how well running works in the NFL.

Still, that doesn't mean quarterbacks shouldn't be able to roll out of the pocket when they come under pressure. If a quarterback can get a pass off, then that's great. Often, throwing under pressure is where quarterbacks throw the interceptions.

Dalton has shown that he can run. Doing it wisely in certain situations will lead him to success.

Hand the Ball off

How does this add to Dalton's success? Well, by having a solid running game (which the Bengals do), it takes some of the pressure off the young quarterback.

Dalton isn't going to throw for 4,000 yards and that's been understood. In 2009, the Bengals made the playoffs behind their solid running game, which they seemed to have since neglected.

Carson Palmer threw the ball 120 times more in 2010 than he did in 2009—look at the differences between those teams.

I'm not making comparisons between Palmer and Dalton, but there's a simple formula—focus on the running game. Cedric Benson and Bernard Scott are very good backs and can be depended on.

Dalton's mistakes will be cut down by handing the ball off.

Be Able to Watch over the Left Shoulder

This could be the downfall of Andy Dalton—the offensive line.

Andrew Whitworth is the left tackle, and after watching him for years in a Bengals uniform, I've come to a conclusion: he's just not that good. 

Add in that the left guard is Nate Livings, who is an average lineman at best.

Dalton will have to learn in the NFL while watching over his shoulder, which is a very difficult thing to do.  He never had a lot of concerns at TCU behind a massive offensive line.

In Cincinnati, that line has quite a bit of work that needs to be done. If Dalton can be observant and read defenses, he is that much better off.

Keep His Mouth Shut!

For a long time, Carson Palmer kept his mouth shut. He succeeded.

Dalton has done a very good job of not talking trash and hyping himself up to the media.

This one is straight forward to cap off the list—stay off the high horse and just play football Andy!