Here's what's out there, and as you could imagine, little of it is good.
From Katherine Terrell, ESPN.com...
The Cincinnati Bengals had plenty of things to worry about going into the season opener, but quarterback Andy Dalton wasn't supposed to be one of them.
A 20-0 loss to the Ravens in Paul Brown Stadium on Sunday fell largely on Dalton's shoulders. Dalton completed 16 of 31 passes for 170 yards, four interceptions, a fumble and no touchdowns. He was sacked five times and finished with a quarterback rating of 28.4, the second-lowest of his career.
“I didn’t give us a chance to win this game," Dalton said. "I didn’t give us a chance to score the points we needed to win. It starts with me."
Dalton's performance brought back memories of another bad game. In that game, a 24-3 loss to the Browns in 2014, Dalton threw three picks and had a quarterback rating of 2.0.
From Gary Gramling, SI.com....
The day Andy Dalton ruined quarterbacking: A game of confounding misreads and missed throws. I’m not sure a veteran QB can play more poorly than this.
I’m not a believer, but you can’t start a quarterback who plays as poorly as Andy Dalton did on Sunday. Now in his fourth season, McCarron is a restricted free agent after the season, and the Bengals might be hurtling toward “see what we’ve got” territory.
From John Breech, CBS Sports...
The 'D' here stands for Dalton because Andy Dalton almost single-handedly lost this game for the Bengals. Not only did Dalton throw four interceptions and look horrific while doing it, but he also lost a fumble after driving the Bengals inside of Baltimore's 10-yard line. Everything that could go wrong for Dalton did go wrong. Maybe he should change his name to Andy Murphy. This was all basically every Bengals fan after watching Dalton play.
From Austin Knoblauch, NFL.com...
The last time Andy Dalton threw three interceptions over the first 30 minutes of a game, the Bengals won (back in 2014). There was no repeat of an improbable defiance of fate Sunday when Dalton tossed three first-half picks against a stingy Ravens defense. Dalton had a miserable first half, completing 8 of 15 passes for 70 yards and three turnovers. His final pick of the half -- which came at the end of an almost comical series of incidents after he drilled Terrell Suggs in the helmet and Lardarius Webb came up with the ricocheted ball -- resulted in a drenching of boos from the home crowd. The situation didn't magically fix itself in the second half, either, and Dalton finished the game 16 of 31 for 170 yards and four interceptions. It seems like the inconsistent version of Dalton we used to know -- the one before his very strong 2015 season was derailed by a late-season thumb injury -- was on the field against the Ravens. Whether it was a one-game blip or a possible door-opener for AJ McCarron remains to be seen.
From Michael David Smith, Pro Football Talk...
Thursday night’s game may be ugly. The Texans play the Bengals this week on Thursday Night Football, and that means we may see the two worst offenses in the league facing off. Cincinnati got shut out 20-0 by Baltimore, while Houston lost 29-7 to Jacksonville. With a Thursday night game like that, the NFL is going to have a hard time changing the perception that Thursday Night Football games are the worst games of the week. Said Bengals coach Marvin Lewis of his team’s performance yesterday, “I don’t know if I’ve ever been in such a disappointing football game.” Here’s hoping we don’t get just as disappointing a football game on Thursday night.
People have been ready for the Cincinnati Bengals to fire Lewis for a long time, but the team has shown a remarkable amount of patience with him. But if Week 1 was a sign of things to come, that patience might run out.
From Frank Schwab, Yahoo.com...
The Bengals were horrible on Sunday in a 20-0 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. They were shut out at home. Quarterback Andy Dalton, playing behind a bad offensive line (seems to be a theme this season, huh?), had four interceptions against a Ravens defense that looked really strong. The Cincinnati defense was OK, but a 46-yard touchdown allowed to Jeremy Maclin pretty much took the Bengals out of the game. It was a debacle.
One game doesn’t sentence a team to a terrible season. But it’s surprising the Bengals looked so unprepared. Cincinnati was expected to bounce back from a rough season last year. It didn’t look on Sunday like that’s going to happen. It’s hard to believe Lewis, who is in the final year of his contract after he wasn’t given an extension, will be back if the rest of the Bengals’ season looks like Sunday’s performance.
From Pro Football Focus...
PERFORMANCES OF NOTE:
QB ANDY DALTON, 36.9 OVERALL GRADE
The stats look even worse than the grade with a couple unlucky picks, but it was still a day to forget for Dalton. On top of the five turnovers, he missed a handful of other wide open throws. The Bengals have to be worried about him hearing footsteps with the state of the offensive line. He was only 2-of-6 for 13 yards and took five sacks on 13 pressured dropbacks.
LT CEDRIC OGBUEHI, 36.7 OVERALL GRADE
If the Bengals were hoping for a big step forward from Ogbuehi this season, they’ll have to keep waiting. Ogbuehi was a mess in pass protection and has serious issues holding up to the bull rush. He allowed two sacks and two other hurries on the day.
EDGE CARL LAWSON, 80.0 OVERALL GRADE
In only 14 pass-rushing snaps, Lawson managed three pressures and a couple other nice pass-rushes against left tackle Ronnie Stanley. He showed great power on the bull rush and an effective swipe to the outside. Stanley is no slouch at left tackle, making the performance all the more impressive.
DI RYAN GLASGOW, 83.4 OVERALL GRADE
The Bengals look as though they’ve found their replacement for Domata Peko. Glasgow was incredibly stout against the run at nose tackle, registering two stops on the day.