Wild Card Recap: Dumpster Fire Dalton

Seeing what happened to Kansas City on Saturday made you think about Cincinnati instantaneously. The reason is being is Bengals have been exactly like the Chiefs in terms of they have not won a playoff game in over 20 years. For Cincinnati, it has been worse than Kansas City as Bengals have not won a playoff game since 1990. This seemed like more than given to break the streak. Cincinnati is undefeated at the so-called 'The Jungle' playing a San Diego team whom basically snaked their way into the playoffs like the guy from The Wolf on Wall Street. It seemed like a lock. But once again, Cincinnati failed to live up to the bright lights and it all falls on their quarterback.

Sometimes blaming the quarterback is an unjust thing to do. People do with Tony Romo of the Dallas Cowboys all the time, and there are ton more examples of quarterbacks getting the brunt of the blame when it is undeserving. But this is one of those cases where it all falls on the quarterback. Andy Dalton cost his team the football game, and once again, it a big football game with a big moment, he failed to step up to the big lights. This is a problem, and probably it means they have an issue at quarterback whether they want to admit it or not right now.

Cincinnati held a 10-7 advantage heading into halftime. They could have been up at least three more points if Giovanni Bernard did not fumble near the goal line. Dalton came out in the second half, and it honestly seemed like he tightened up crumbling under the pressure even when there was not much. After San Diego scored a touchdown to retake the lead giving Chargers a 14-10 lead early in the third quarter, Dalton tries to run the ball falling forward leading him to fumble the ball. San Diego recovered and added a field goal to give them a seven-point advantage. Dalton played adequtely leading up to this point, but it seemed like the fumble was the start of the spiral like when your friend suggests to do RumpleMintz shots after five hours of drinking.

It became the same story with Dalton as instead of coming up with a response to San Diego getting a score and tying up the game, he threw a putrid interception to Shareece Wright. Once again, this turnover happened in Chargers territory. People really think this guy is a franchise quarterback?  This is an average quarterback at this point. Sure he wins games, but Trent Dilfer won games with a good defense behind him. There are so many quarterbacks that have been bailed out by having a great defense, but Dalton cost his team a chance to win this football game without question even though his defense gave him a chance in another attempt to bail his ass out. San Diego only turned Dalton's mistakes to six points meaning Cincinnati at least a chance in this football game and Dalton pissed it away like a drunk Billy Madison.

Even with the ineptitude of Dalton, San Diego deserves credit for winning the football game. Chargers defense played well even with holding one of the worst pass defenses in he National Football League (This actually makes Dalton's day more criminal). They also ran the ball for almost 200 yards with a three-headed monster of Ronnie Brown, Danny Woodhead and Ryan Mathews against one of the best rush defenses in the NFL. With Mathews banged up, they were still able to find a way to control the clock and pull off the massive upset against Cincinnati. Also let's not forget Phillip Rivers being the first person since my grandpa in the 2000s to wear a bolo tie.

It is not time for Cincinnati to make a quarterback change, but they should draft a quarterback in the upcoming 2014 NFL draft. It is a loaded quarterback draft meaning they could get someone like Aaron Murray, Zach Mettenberger or Logan Thomas in the mid-rounds. In no way should Cincinnati be thinking about giving Dalton a 100 million dollar contract in 2015 when his contract is up. Dalton might be sixth in passing for the season, but he might just be a mid-level quarterback who knows how to throw a vertical route to A.J. Green.

Charlie.

NFL Liquor Cabinet Week 16: Everybody is drunk

For the entire NFL season, we will be breaking down the rest of the NFL not named Green Bay by looking at it like a liquor cabinet. Why did we choose this method? I like to booze and it makes things really easy to determine what's great, average and poor. 

I usually do not put a tag, but I really think I have no idea what's going to happen in the playoffs. Like we are heading for a 'Red Wedding' style playoffs where no one is safe. I cannot believe I said multiple times on Sunday, 'Philadelphia might be the best NFC team.'  Let's talk about it I guess and try to make sense of all that happened this week. 

TOP SHELF 
Talk me out of a New England-Philadelphia Super Bowl -  Here's where the NFL season has left me folks. These are the two best teams right now in both divisions. San Francisco is pretty good, but giving up 350 yards to Matt Ryan at home worries me a bit. Philadelphia seems to be cooking on all cylinders, and I feel like the Minnesota game is a blip on the radar. New England keeps winning games no matter who is lining up on both sides of the football. Tom Brady's statistics might not be great, but he's playing great this season for what's he's been given this year.

Cam Newton's big balls performance - While Robert Griffin III suffered all the criticism after he had a successful rookie season, Cam Newton received it during the draft process, his first season, second season and to think there are still losers whom still call him Scam. He led Carolina down the field late in the game trailing and notched a victory for the Panthers. I do not care if he only threw for 181 yards. That took massive testicular fortitude, and I am impressed with his season. Cam Newton is winning an MVP award before 2018.

Indianapolis leaves me uneasy like an STD - That might be a little too extreme, but I do not know what to make of the Colts. I am starting to think Indianapolis plays down to their opponents hence the reason why they have some brutal losses in juncture with impressive wins against Seattle, San Francisco, Denver and others. They will get a home game against this Kansas City team, but I also wonder if Andy Reid played a vanilla offense/defense showing nothing to Indianapolis which is very possible. We have seen this before with teams.

Cowboys come back and Romo gets hurt? - Dallas made a valiant comeback against Washington with Tony Romo leading a comeback to beat Washington and set up an NFC East showdown next Sunday. But they could be without Romo as he has a back injury. First, it was a herniated disk, then it was day-to-day injury and now it is back spasms. I have no idea what to think about this Dallas team although I will admit it would be the most Romo thing ever for Kyle Orton to lead Dallas to a playoff appearance.  

MIDDLE SHELF 
I feel legitimate bad for Arizona - As someone who cheers for an NFC North team, I feel bad Arizona might miss the playoffs with an 11-5 record. That would be insane. I mean the NFC West is an excellent division, but still it feels wrong in all sorts of ways for Arizona or New Orleans missing the playoffs although more so the Cardinals who have been playing great of late.

Peyton breaks the record, but how much meaning does it have? - I am really happy for Peyton Manning's season because it in large part won me 260 dollars so for that I thank him, but at the same time, passing records post the new NFL rules will be looked at like the steroid era numbers in baseball. All of these records being broken and re-broken by others in the last couples years is honestly pathetic, but it is not Peyton's fault for taking advantage.  

Somehow Andy Dalton is sixth in passing - See what I mean about what I just ranted about above?

Jeff Fisher is the king of .500 - I probably should not call him the king, but he is the prince of it. In eight of his 18 seasons of a full-time head coach, Fisher's teams have been either 7-9, 7-8-1 or 8-8. That's incredible. I do not know what that says about his teams or his coaching. Just find it interesting how it always seems to Ihappen with Fisher.

BOTTOM SHELF 
DETROIT..... Football :( - We were at Lambeau, and they showed the highlights of New York-Detroit... Right before they did it, my buddy Seth goes 'I bet Stafford threw a pick-six here.' and sure enough, he did throw that interception and sure enough, Detroit lost the football game.

Miami pulls a Dan Marino - For as long as I could remember, Dan Marino was famously known for choking in December football games on the road. He could not win in the cold to save his soul.  Apparently, this version of the Dolphins do the same thing as they were shutout by the Bills, the same team who gave up 33 points to Jacksonville. Thankfully, Miami has New York Jets at home.

I have no control in Week 17 - I absolutely hate how I have no idea how things will pan out next week. I am exhausted from this season.

Charlie.