Looking For Trends In The Bengals Passing Attack

After the Bengals loss to the Steelers on Sunday, I started to notice tendencies and trends in the Bengals passing offense. It came to me after Andy Dalton's second interception where it looked like William Gay knew when and where to play the ball. I think the Steelers knew where Dalton was going with the ball and it may have cost them the game in the end.

I went back to the Bengals last three games looking for something I could demonstrate to everyone. I decided to chart every one of Andy Dalton's throws to see if there was anything opposing defenses are looking at to try and gain an edge on the Bengals. After the jump, you'll see what I found.

What you'll see in these passing charts are the Completions (Black), Incompletions (White), Touchdowns (Orange), Interceptions (Red), Throw-away passes (Blue) and passes where the receiver was interfered with (Yellow). The arching line you see is to show where most people consider the separation between the easier throws and the harder throws. 

 Andy Dalton's Throws vs Seahawks

 Against the Seahawks, you can tell where most of Dalton's passes were going. He attempted 15 passes to his right and within 10-yards. I was surprised to see 8-passes thrown behind the line of scrimmage. Of the harder throws, Dalton completed only one, the touchdown to A.J. Green.

 Andy Dalton's Throws vs Titans

Andy Dalton may have had his best game against the Titans. Again, most of his passes where short and to the right. He completed 12 of 16 passes with two touchdowns within 10-yards to his right side.

 Andy Dalton's Throws vs Steelers

This is where I think the Steelers started to notice the trend. With the majority of Dalton's passes going to the right within the easier-throw arch, the Steelers noticed and were able to intercept two passes. Again, Dalton didn't have much succcess going deep.

The most distrubing trend could be the lack of passes going down the middle. That should be where Jermaine Gresham lives. Granted, he did miss the Seahawks and Titans games but you can see that Dalton can be very accurate over the middle (8/11 with two TDs). Without A.J. Green this week, these trends could be tossed away. It's obvious that Green, who lines up to the right for the majority of his snaps, is Dalton's go-to guy. Look for Gresham to see more action down the middle this week vs. the Ravens.