How Good Do You Think Andy Dalton Can Be?

[bigbluedefense]

He's like Chad Pennington before the shoulder injuries. I think he can be a very successful qb, I think he's got the ability to win playoff games and maybe a SB with the right team around him.

I don't think he's capable of having a team built through him. I think that's a difference that people often ignore.

You can be a franchise qb without having the ability to have a team built through you. A franchise qb to me is a guy who is good enough to win a SB with. An elite qb is a guy who you can build your team through. I see Dalton as a franchise guy, but not an elite guy.

And there's nothing wrong with that. The goal of every team is to win the SB. Everything else is irrelevant. And Dalton can do that, but you have to design your team to minimize his weaknesses and play the game in a way that you don't rely on him to spread em out and wing it all over the field. He's not that guy.

He's a lot like Matt Ryan in the sense that the guy has ability to win a SB, but not the ability to put the team on his back. He needs a great defense and run game to take pressure off of him.

I like Dalton, I think he's a franchise qb. But they have to build around him, not through him.

That's the point that I want to make. Build around him, not through him and he'll be great.

[BeerBaron]

See, my definition for a "franchise QB" is someone who has the tools required to become one of your "elite" QBs.

It's funny that you mention Matt Ryan as well, because I have him on my "Game Manager +" level. These are guys, like Ryan and Pennington and probably Dalton, who will allow the team to play to their talent level like a typical game managing QB would, but with the occasional boost to that "above and beyond" level of play like an elite QB. You just shouldn't count on them to do it all of the time, what I fear their teams will eventually lean on Ryan and Dalton to do.