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We continue to roll out our Bengals 2015 team awards, where we nominate a number of players for a variety of yearly honors. While we get the initial nominations for each award by the Cincy Jungle contributors, we ask for your votes to determine the winner. Cast them and sound off on your selection in the comments!
Alberto Luque (AKA muertasdetenas): Andy Dalton, and I don't think it is even close. With Geno Atkins, it is more of a bounce back performance, but Andy just proved he is close to the elite than anybody was willing to admit. Let's see if he is able to carry it over in 2016 without Hue Jackson.
Alex Healey: In three less games than his 2014 campaign, Andy Dalton amassed 148 less yards, six more touchdowns, and 10 less interceptions. When healthy, Dalton was a legitimate MVP candidate as Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers fell out of consideration as the season progressed. Before his 2015 campaign, I had no idea if the Bengals had a quarterback capable of taking them to the promise land. I now know they do. In the NFL, that is the most important question to be answered on any roster.
Kyle Phelps: I have to give this one to Cedric Peerman. In a season riddled with mistakes throughout the special teams unit, Peerman was always there to make the tackle on a returner when needed. He had 13 solo special teams tackles on the year and infrequently contributed in the returning game when he was asked to. He only returned four kicks, but two of those four went for at least 12 yards. He's also at the Pro Bowl this year, so I think you've got to give him the credit he deserves.
Scott Schulze: There are several ways you could go with this vote. But after the 2014 season, many fans were ready to discard Dalton in favor of AJ McCarron. It's an understatement to say Dalton struggled in his first year under Hue Jackson's offense, throwing only 19 touchdowns to 17 interceptions, and throwing for only 3,300 yards. Dalton's 2015 was a huge step forward from his 2014 season, and he finished second in the NFL with a 106.2 quarterback rating. That rating was the best by a Bengals' QB since Boomer Esiason had a 106.7 rating in a handful of games in his swan song 1997 season.