In the first two games last year, Dalton directed four drives, with only one resulting in a touchdown.
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In the first two games in 2015, Dalton led eight drives, only one of which ended in a touchdown (well, two if you count the pick-6 he threw in Week 2 at Tampa Bay).
But by the time the third game rolled around, the offense clicked. Last year the Bengals scored two touchdowns in the three drives Dalton played at Jacksonville. And in 2015, Dalton directed a 16-play, 77-yard drive in the only series he played against Chicago.
“You’d like to see it all the time,” Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said of preseason production. “The big thing is just the execution. The drives have stalled because we haven’t executed there at the point.
“If we got the ball in the red zone, we failed to get in and make another first down where you’re within striking distance for a touchdown,” he continued. “We haven’t had many snaps inside the 10-yard line because we’ve failed to make that next first down. We had another opportunity the other night for a catch and run and we didn’t get it done.”
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The first drive this year lasted 12 plays and covered 65 yards, with the Bengals reaching the Tampa Bay 5-yard line. But Dalton threw an interception on third-and-2 and had to wait eight days to get another shot at redemption.
Last week against Kansas City, the opening drive again lasted for 12 plays. But on third-and-9 at the Chiefs 29, Dalton threw high and wide of receiver A.J. Green, and the ball went through his hands, forcing the Bengals to settle for a field goal.
The second drive was a three-and-out after a second-down sack, and the third one covered 61 yards in 11 plays but bogged down again in the red zone when Dalton couldn’t connect with Green on an end-zone fade on third and 2.
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“We just need to finish drives,” Dalton said. “We’ve gotten down there, we’ve moved the ball well. We just have to finish. We’ve got to do that this week.
It is still is the preseason, so you’re not going to be doing everything that you’re normally doing,” he added. “But we’ve got weapons. We’ve got guys that can make plays for us.”
With the preseason being what it is, Dalton admitted there aren’t many performances he can recall, good or bad.
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“I know the first one wasn’t very good,” he said with a laugh, referring to his debut game as a rookie when he was 11 of 15 for 69 yards with an interception. “The first couple games weren’t really good.”
Asked if he could remember who the team played in the dress rehearsal game a year ago, Dalton admitted he couldn’t.
When informed it was at Jacksonville, it came back to him.
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“Oh, yeah, that’s right. We scored a touchdown on our first drive.”
That, of course, will be the mission again Sunday, when Dalton goes against the Redskins and head coach Jay Gruden, his offensive coordinator for his first three seasons in the league and the man who was most instrumental in the Bengals picking him in the second round of the 2011 draft.
Dalton said he expects to play the first half, and he also expects to have first-round pick John Ross available to throw to for the first time.
“You’re playing games, and any time you’re out there you want to win, you want to score, you want to be at your best,” Dalton said.
Lewis wants the same thing but said little hinges of whether it actually occurs.
“I’d like to see them (score touchdowns) and do well, but it’s not going to matter because what we do in the first game is really what matters,” he said.
Next game
Cincinnati Bengals (1-1) vs. Washington Redskins (0-2)
When: 4:30 p.m. Sunday
Where; FedExField, Hyattsville, Md.
TV: Ch. 19, 45
Radio: 1530-AM, 102.7-FM, 104.7-FM
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