Andy Dalton: Need to make plays and protect the football

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton has largely shouldered the blame for Cincinnati's recent two-game skid. While being minimally grilled during Wednesday's presser before practice, Dalton admitted several times that he just has to play better and protect the football.

Why the offense is getting off to slow starts:

"I don’t think there’s one thing that’s stopped what we’ve been doing. We just have to make more plays. I have to be better, and make more accurate throws and give our guys more of a chance to make plays."

Dalton's interceptions against the Baltimore Ravens were bad decisions or the wind?

"There’s a couple of them where I saw something different than the way it was run. I have to make better throws."

Why the production has fallen off in recent games:

"I don’t think there’s one thing that’s stopped what we've been doing. We just have to make more plays. I have to be better, and make more accurate throws and give our guys more of a chance to make plays."

On throwing three interceptions in consecutive games:

"I've got to do a better job of not turning the ball over, and that's what it comes down to. You've got to understand when you can take your chances and when you can't. That's something I've got to do a better job of."

The rest of the press conference talked about the Hail Mary, the Cleveland Browns, their defense, Joe Haden and their safety tandem.

"We’ve got to start fast. That’s something we really didn’t do, and for this team it’s not that we’re not playing hard, it’s just that a couple things didn’t go our way. We’ve got to make some big plays, tough catches, make guys miss in the run game. They’re a good defense, and we have to be at our best."