It’s all about the playaction for Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton.
Dalton has been heavily reliant on the playaction over the years and even more so recently as the offensive line in front of him fell apart.
For Evan McPhillips of Pro Football Focus, the arrival of new head coach Zac Taylor could mean Jared Goff-type numbers off the play fake:
The Bengals have actually been at the forefront of play-action use with Dalton in the last three seasons, ranking inside the top 10 in the percentage of dropbacks that used play-action each year. When examining how effective Dalton has been on those play-action attempts, he managed just eight yards per attempt on 2017 and 8.3 yards per attempt in 2018, which ranked tied for 19th and 21st among quarterbacks, respectively. Compare that to Jared Goff, who averaged 10.6 yards per attempt off play-action (2nd) in 2017 and 10.0 (4th) in 2018.
In fact, the writeup notes Dalton’s career year in 2015 stemmed in part from his solid 83.6 grade off playactions.
Taylor’s ability to emulate the Los Angeles Rams and the happenings around Goff are key here. As PFF notes, the Bengals only had a step of separation on just 53.8 percent of their targets in 2018, second to worst in the NFL.
Basically, Taylor will have to boast a strong ability to shake elements like John Ross and others free to complement a strong running game.
That said, the task keeps getting harder. Jonah Williams is likely lost for the season and now Clint Boling has retired. Taylor’s scheme will have to overcome more than initially thought to get Dalton turned back in the right direction.
