It was an annual event for the Daltons during his nine years as the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback and just one of the many ventures of the Andy and J.J, Dalton Foundation that over time assisted nearly five million people in the Cincinnati area and back in Fort Worth, Texas, where he is from.
The Christmas party -- which last year surprised 12 kids and their entire families – always was a wondrous affair here.
Part of it was held in the visitors dressing room at PBS and some of it was in the East Lounge. There was a dinner, gifts from the kids’ personal wish lists, a scavenger hunt in the stadium, a Build-a-Bear stand , a story hour, a $1,500 gift certificate to a furniture store for each family, an audience with Santa and his elves and a Christmas tree for each family when it went out the door.
It was exactly a year ago today that Dalton and I stood at his locker in the Bengals quarters and talked about the holiday affair.
“We want people to feel they’re loved,” he said. “To see that God loves them and that we love them. It’s actually one of the most rewarding things I do.”
That was the last time Dalton and I spoke until Sunday – this time by Zoom -- when he again was in the visitors dressing room and again had made quite an impact.
This time though – as the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys – he had just orchestrated a 30-7 trouncing on the hapless Bengals.
He completed 16 of 23 passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns. He threw an 11-yard TD pass to Amari Cooper in the second quarter and connected for another score on a 7-yard pass to running back Tony Pollard with just 1:55 left in the game.
After that last touchdown toss he turned and looked up to where J.J. was sitting in the upper deck area on the west side of the stadium and gave a quick wave to her.
“She’s been such a big support to me from the very beginning here – we had gotten married right before my rookie years – so she was a part of it all,” he said. “She is someone I can go to talk about anything and we’ve worked through this thing together.
“It as emotional for me today, but I think she was dealing with more of it than me.”
He said they have a lot of friends here, a lot of ties to the area: “Cincinnati means a lot to us.”
The feeling is mutual and it was expressed a big colorful sign – “Thanks Andy and JJ 4 Changing Lives” – that was hung in the upper deck of the west side of the stadium.
“That was one of the coolest things today,” Dalton said. “And that (changing lives) is what we tried to do while we were here. We tried to use our platform for good. And now it was great to come back and feel that love.”
While the Daltons impacted many here, he wasn’t able to fully impact the oft-bumbling Bengals enough to make them a postseason force in the NFL.
When he joined the team as a second-round pick in the 2011, he was thrust straight into the starter’s role with a team that had gone 4-11 the year before.
He promptly guided the team to five straight playoff appearances and though he and receiver A.J. Green were one of the most productive combos in the league, they never were able to lead the Bengals to a victory in the postseason.
And when Zac Taylor took over as head coach last season and his team promptly stumbled to an 0-8 start, he made a change at quarterback, benching Dalton in favor of Ryan Finley.
After three games Finley flopped and Taylor went back to Dalton, who did orchestrate two wins, but the team still finished 2-14. That got Cincinnati the first pick in the NFL draft and went with LSU wonder kid quarterback – an Ohio native – Joe Burrow.
In April, Dalton -- who holds several Bengals career passing records, including most completions and TD passes – was released.
He was picked up by Dallas to be the backup quarterback to Dak Prescott.
Since then he’s been on a roller-coaster of fortune. In the fifth game, Prescott broke his leg and Dalton suddenly was the starter. Then came a cheap shot, helmet-to-helmet hit by Washington linebacker Jon Bostic that left him with a concussion.
While he was recovering he contracted COVID-19 which clobbered him for another two weeks.
Finally recovered, he returned as the Dallas starter and Sunday several of the Cowboys said they could tell he as keyed up for this game.
Running back Zeke Elliott said while Dalton kept telling them " this is not about me, it’s about our team” – he knew it meant a lot.
Coach Mike McCarthy said the whole team wanted “to win this one for Andy” and he made Dalton a captain for the game and asked him to speak to the team just before they took the field for the kickoff.
As Dalton rallied his team – the Cowboys are now 4-9 and still in the hunt for NFC East title – the Bengals once again self destructed.
Cincinnati fumbled the ball away on its first three possessions – Giovani Bernard, Trayeon Williams and Alex Erickson committing the back-to-back-to-back gaffes – and that paved the way to another defeat in what is now a 2-10-1 season.
After the game one Bengals player after another embraced Dalton on the field.
When he got to the dressing room, his teammates doused him with water and cheers and McCarthy gave him the game ball.
“There were a lot of different emotions today.” Dalton said, “but in the end I was just very happy. "
The moment that really struck a chord with him was when he waved to J.J. after that last touchdown.
“That meant a lot,” he said. “I was acknowledging her giving her and saying ‘I love you’ and I was getting it right back. It’s a moment I’ll never forget.”
It was another affirmation that what goes around truly does come around.
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