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Stats don't tell you everything, and sometimes they're deceiving, but the stats don't lie in showing how improved the Bengals -- and specially Andy Dalton -- were from 2014 to 2015.
From offense to defense, just about every player on the Bengals improved this season, which helped them earn a 12-4 record and get off to an 8-0 start. Actually, the offensive line may not have improved this season as Andy Dalton was sacked one less time in 2015 than he was in 2014, while only playing in 13 and 1/4 games in 2015, and AJ McCarron was sacked 12 times in 3 and 3/4 games this season, totaling 32 sacks taken by Bengals quarterbacks in 2015, compared to just 23 in 2014, 21 of which were on Dalton.
Let's take a look at a variety of stats from 2014 and 2015 and compare the data.
PASSING 2014 |
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| NAME | ATT | COMP | PCT | YDS | AVG | YDS/G | LONG | TD | TD% | INT | INT% | SACK | YDSL | RATE |
| Andy Dalton | 481 | 309 | 64.2 | 3398 | 7.1 | 204.6 | 81 | 19 | 4 | 17 | 3.5 | 21 | 124 | 83.5 |
| Mohamed Sanu | 3 | 3 | 100 | 79 | 26.3 | 4.6 | 50 | 1 | 33.3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 158.3 |
| Jason Campbell | 19 | 11 | 57.9 | 74 | 3.9 | 18.5 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 66.6 |
| Totals | 503 | 323 | 64.2 | 3551 | 7.1 | 213.8 | 81 | 20 | 4 | 17 | 3.4 | 23 | 130 | 84.2 |
PASSING 2015 |
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| NAME | ATT | COMP | PCT | YDS | AVG | YDS/G | LONG | TD | TD% | INT | INT% | SACK | YDSL | RAT |
| Andy Dalton | 386 | 255 | 66.1 | 3250 | 8.4 | 240.9 | 80 | 25 | 6.5 | 7 | 1.8 | 20 | 118 | 106.3 |
| AJ McCarron | 119 | 79 | 66.4 | 854 | 7.2 | 113 | 66 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1.7 | 12 | 63 | 97.1 |
| Totals | 505 | 334 | 66.1 | 4104 | 8.1 | 245.2 | 80 | 31 | 6.1 | 9 | 1.8 | 32 | 181 | 104.1 |
Looking at these numbers, it's clear Andy Dalton was much improved in 2015. And, here are some of his stats, if you take a look at the number just from the first 14 weeks of the 2014 season:
Weeks 1-14 2014 |
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| Name | ATT | COMP | PCT | YDS | AVG | TD | INT | QBR | RAT |
| Andy Dalton | 394 | 251 | 64.12 | 2891 | 7.6 | 15 | 13 | 53.6 | 87.6 |
In less attempts, Dalton had more completions, more than 300 additional yards, a higher yards per passing attempt average, nearly double the number of touchdowns and his QB Rating was 18.7 points higher in 2015 than it was in 2014 through 14 games (and overall).
In eight games this season, Dalton threw a pass for more than 40 yards, whereas that happened in only four games in 2014. Dalton actually ranked second in the NFL in yards per attempt this season, behind only Carson Palmer. 2015 was Dalton's best season as a pro and even though it ended with an interception and devastating injury, it still leaves a lot of hope going forward that he can continue to build on his success and use his injury as motivation to come back even better.