Bengals PFF report: Andy Dalton is struggling mightily

The Bengals wee manhandled by the Vikings on Sunday.

While it was a team effort in getting demolished by a 34-7 margin, no single player may have struggled more as a result of it than Andy Dalton. Unfortunately for Dalton, this continued the trend of his recent poor play.

According to Pro Football Focus, Dalton has lowered his season accuracy ranking each of the past four weeks. In Week 12, Dalton ranked 17th throwing 72.7 percent of his passes accurately.

But in the following weeks, Dalton has fallen in the ranking to 18th in Week 13, 20th in Week 14, and 22nd in Week 15. Dalton currently throws 71.1 percent of his passes accurately.

During this four-week stretch, Dalton has completed a mere 64 of 115 passes (55.6%) for 702 yards and five touchdowns versus three interceptions. That’s an average of 175.5 yards and 1.3 touchdowns versus 0.8 interceptions per game, which simply isn’t cutting it for a starting NFL quarterback (unless it’s for the Browns, then it’s Ring oF Honor worthy).

Week 15 was a difficult week for the Bengals’ wide receivers. The highest-rated receiver when targeted this week was A.J. Green, who had a 75.0 passer rating when targeted. Green was only targeted four times this week, which was tied for 48th-most in Week 15.

Cincinnati's highest-rated running back was Jarveon Williams, who earned a 59.8 overall PFF grade on a single snap. Starting running back Giovani Bernard earned a 41.7 this week, the fourth worst grade of all Bengals players.

Left tackle Cedric Ogbuehi was actually somewhat decent, as he performed slightly below average with a 64.5 overall PFF grade in his limited snaps in Week 15,

Backup tackle Eric Winston, who filled in for Ogbuehi, earned a very low quality game grade of 33.2. Winston's grade was the worst of all Bengals players.

Right tackle Andre Smith, who has been rated slightly below average over the past four weeks, earned an very poor overall PFF grade this week of 39.0. This was his worst grade this season, Smith's best grade was Week 10 an 82.0.

Defensive tackle Geno Atkins earned the highest grade of any player, Bengals or Vikings, in this game. Atkins earned an 89.1 which is 0.9 below the elite grade. Atkins' season has been great so far, earning a 91.7 overall rating.

Starting linebacker Vincent Rey was badly exploited this week, allowing four receptions on four targets, and on average allowed 2.09 yards per snap in coverage.

Backup linebacker Jordan Evans allowed five receptions on seven targets for 33 yards and one touchdown. On average, Evans allowed 1.83 yards per coverage snap, the fourth-worst rate in week 15.

Starting safety Shawn Williams earned the Bengals’ second highest overall PFF grade of 82.7. Williams performed well in coverage allowing a mere 0.04 yards per coverage snap on average.

Backup safety Clayton Fejedelem earned a season-low 35.2 overall PFF grade, third-worst overall of all the Bengals players. His poor grade can be seen in his coverage, where he allowed 3.00 yards per coverage snap.

Starting cornerback William Jackson was the Bengals third-highest graded player this week, earning a high mark of 86.0. He is now ranked 14th among cornerbacks in PFF’s 2017 season rankings. Jackson has been the brightest spot in a lost season for the Bengals. His future brightens up the Bengals’ outlook in future seasons.

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