Life’s Tough Get A Helmet

When Andy Dalton has a bad night, he has a bad night.

No, we’re not going to make jokes about the Cincinnati Bengals’ quarterbacks fabled playoff meltdowns. And we’re not going to blame him (completely) for Monday night’s sad showing, in which his previously-undefeated team fell 10-6 at home to the distinctly average Houston Texans.

It was afterwards that Dalton could have been better. Much better.

During the game, repeated drops of his passes were not his fault, and neither was receiver A.J. Green’s fumble at the end after a 40-yard play that looked as if it could position the Bengals to rally and win.

It was afterwards.

Houston defensive end J.J. Watt, playing off Dalton’s nickname “The Red Rifle,” told ESPN’s Lisa Salters in a postgame interview on the field: “Our goal was to come out here and make the Red Rifle look like a Red Ryder BB gun.”

That’s pretty good. It’s funny and way better than the usual oatmeal players dole out on camera. Dalton could have and should have laughed that off. Ooooooohhhh, noooooooo. His widdle feewings were hurt.

“I am disappointed in him for the integrity of this game,” Dalton said. “I have a lot of respect for him. He’s a really good player. And so there’s a lot of kids and a lot of people that look up to him. And for him to make comments like that, it just shows that it’s acceptable to do that kind of stuff and say that kind of stuff. So I mean, it’s disappointing for one of the best players in this league to come out and say something like that.”

Integrity of the game? Implying that Watt made bullying acceptable? Disappointing? Ack. Please. Is this the worst thing anyone has said about you?

Dalton and the Bengals (8-1) have had a great season and hit one clinker against a very respectable defense. The loss will raise the usual questions of how they respond under pressure (Monday night game, national attention, big stage). And now their quarterback looks like a whiner.

Wah, wah, sis boom bah.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .