Film Room: Andy Dalton is rushing his throws

Andy Dalton was always fast with the ball. That's why Cincinnati Bengals coaches loved him. He blurred three- and five-step drops, zipped through his reads 1-2-3 and fired a ball as flaming as his red hair. He looked natural throwing slant routes and shallow routes. 

Now he's getting rid of it faster than ever before, and it's been his downfall.

His low point came a few days ago, a Thursday night game in Cleveland. Dalton had the worst performance of his career in that Week 10 contest. He went through his reads too fast and was overwhelmed. He threw 33 passes and completed 10 of them. That didn’t include a flagged throwaway he made past the line of scrimmage. He threw three interceptions and averaged 2.6 yards per attempt. It was incredible to find out afterward that he threw for 86 yards, not because it seemed low but because it seemed high.

It had been a long time coming. Dalton, who signed a six-year, $96-million contract ($17 million guaranteed) this offseason, has struggled in 2014. He’s missed routine throws. He's also missed more difficult ones at the second and third levels, where he's never been good, but never this bad either. There are other throws he hasn’t even attempted because he hasn’t waited long enough to see them.

Two weeks before the Cleveland game, against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 8, he took a three-step drop on first down behind a horseshoe-shaped pocket, and scanned the middle of the field where a free safety lurked with his shoulders square. The safety waited for Dalton to open up his shoulders in the direction he would throw, so he could jump the route. Dalton stood disciplined, keeping his left shoulder forward and his right shoulder back while he went through his reads.

In between the right hash and numbers, two linebackers covered a tight end as he started streaking downfield. Dalton looked to him and just before the tight end split the two linebackers to find freedom, he looked away to his checkdown underneath. In the safe zone an H-back ran diagonally to the middle of the field like he was running a spot route and then pivoted outside across the 26, where Dalton threw for a five-yard pickup.

When Dalton rushes throws, he misses opportunities downfield, which leaves the Bengals offense to slog through long second and third downs. Long distances demand more of Dalton, who has limited vision and, due to his sped-up play, sloppy footwork.

In Week 9, Dalton faced the Jacksonville Jaguars’ porous secondary - which he should have dominated - and struggled at times. He threw two interceptions, including one on second-and-8.

He was in a shotgun set with multiple weapons spread out. One was in the slot.

When the play began, three receivers ran downfield on a three-vertical concept that Dalton favored at Texas Christian University, where Bengals coaches first fell for his talent. His read, here, was the slot receiver, who ran open just inside the hash, in front of a cornerback and behind a safety spying underneath.

Dalton looked at him the entire way. He had room to lead him downfield, in between the hashes and the end zone. For once, he waited long enough to throw to an open receiver downfield. But he rushed the throw and didn’t rotate his hips when the ball flew off his right hand, which didn’t come across his waist into the opposite pocket. The ball took off like a plane, sailed high over the spy’s outstretched arm, then lost air and dunked down into the hands of the diving cornerback.

Dalton's feet were part of what made him successful early in his career. He always had quick, clean footwork on short and intermediate routes. He made up for his limitations that way. Suddenly, footwork has become a limitation itself.

On third-and-15 against the Carolina Panthers, who he threw two interceptions against in Week 6 as well, Dalton stood in shotgun with a tight end flexed three yards from the line.

He took a quick five-step drop and uncorked a deep pass down the middle with all of his weight on his back foot. He didn’t rotate his hips. His left shoulder leaned down and his right up. They followed the crossing motion of his right arm and his body weight leaning forward. Because the throw came off of his back foot, it had too much air on it and rocketed over the tight end and into a Panthers safety’s outstretched arms.

Part of Dalton’s downfall is poor fundamentals. He’s too quick to get rid of the ball, whether he sees an open receiver or not. Sometimes he misses receivers because he doesn’t see them. Other times he misses them because he scrambles to hit them in between the numbers, only to have his throws go over their heads.

Another part is new offensive coordinator Hue Jackson, who has sometimes relied on his 27-year-old quarterback to play outside the box. Jackson has asked Dalton to take longer dropbacks and throw isolated routes. He’s also sped up Dalton’s reads, which were already fast.

To help fix Dalton’s woes, Jackson needs to go back to the last few years and recognize how manageable down-and-distances were set up through quick game on slant routes and shallow routes. It put less pressure on Dalton to carry the team downfield and speed through his reads.