Earlier on Monday, Silva shared Greg Cosell of NFL Films’ thoughts about Andy Dalton’s lack of arm strength.
Cosell said that he thinks Dalton has some limitations when it comes to arm strength and that he’s heard there are members of the Bengals organization that feel the same way. Offensive coordinator Jay Gruden responded to Cosell on Monday, telling Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer that he doesn’t have any doubts about Dalton’s ability to do the job.
“I don’t know where that came from and why he said it,” Gruden said. “If there were reservations about Andy Dalton there would be a lot more quarterbacks here right now. We know and he knows he has to get better. ... I have no reservations about arm strength. I think he can do it all.”
Dalton’s play tailed off in the second half of last season as the Bengals’ schedule got harder and their reliance on A.J. Green to catch passes became common knowledge. While his arm will never blow you away, Dalton was pretty comfortable running Gruden’s offense and that’s surely why Gruden has no reservations about his arm strength.
Just about every quarterback has limitations, but plenty of them succeed anyway because they find ways to succeed in spite of them. After one year we can’t know if Dalton is such a player, but he certainly did enough last year to make you think he’s got a pretty good shot.