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Andy Dalton reiterates focus on cutting down turnovers

Living to fight another day is something Andy Dalton knows he needs to work on instead of forcing the issue.

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Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Give Andy Dalton credit: He knows what his biggest weakness is and isn't shying away from it.

Turnovers. Turnovers. Turnovers.

As ESPN's Coley Harvey points out, Dalton's 1.5 touchdown-to-interception ratio is the 10th worst among qualifying quarterbacks since 2011. According to Pro football Focus, 32 of his 66 interceptions over that span came while throwing to A.J. Green.

Dalton loves forcing it to Green, often ignoring whether he's in double or even triple coverage. The tendency to force the ball into coverage is something Dalton knows he needs to work on, and saying 'uncle' is part of the mindset he's using for that, according to offensive coordinator Hue Jackson.

"Right now is when you get your mindset right about if a guy is not open or if it's a chance that you're taking with the football that maybe you don't need to take," Jackson said, via Coley Harvey. "There's a time to take a chance and there's a time not to take a chance.

"Sometimes it's just saying 'Uncle' and getting us to the next down with the football."

Harvey also notes how Dalton "threw passes away if options weren't there" more frequently in OTAs this offseason than in the past. While that's good to see, it doesn't mean Dalton won't still revert to old habits once the pads are on and the games are live.

Here was an example of Dalton passing on a safer throw to make a riskier pass to a well-covered Green in Week 1 at Baltimore last season.

On the play, Dalton passed up a shorter, safer throw to Sanu to try and force it to Green, who had two guys draped on him.

These two shots show Sanu coming open with no one covering him as Dalton unloads a deep shot to Green. While this didn't result in a turnover, it was just one of many times Dalton forced a throw when he had a safer option open underneath.