Andy Dalton throws first postseason TD pass despite heavy pass rush

Andy Dalton impressed with his first postseason touchdown pass. In Andy Dalton's third season, he set the Cincinnati Bengals' franchise record for touchdown

Andy Dalton throws first postseason TD pass despite heavy pass rush

Andy Dalton impressed with his first postseason touchdown pass.

In Andy Dalton's third season, he set the Cincinnati Bengals' franchise record for touchdown passes in a season with 33. He enjoyed career-highs in passing attempts, completions, passing yards and passer rating while helping the Bengals take the AFC North crown. Dalton's three seasons have aligned with Cincinnati's first-ever stretch of three straight postseason trips, and though Dalton can be a streaky player, that's not a coincidence.

Dalton's performances in his first two playoff games, though -- that's been a topic filled with consternation, and for good reason. In two wild-card losses to the Houston Texans, Dalton completed 41-of-72 passes for 384 yards, no touchdowns and four interceptions. When the Bengals prepared to take on the San Diego Chargers in this season's wild-card round, many wondered if Dalton would turn that around and lead the Bengals to their first postseason win since 1990.

With 6:05 left in the first half, Dalton finally threw his first playoff touchdown, and he did so in fine fashion.

(GIF courtesy Bleacher Report)

Jermaine Gresham

Melvin Ingram

Published Jan 5, 2014

SI.com contributing NFL writer and Seattle resident Doug Farrar started writing about football locally in 2002, and became Football Outsiders' West Coast NFL guy in 2006. He was fascinated by FO's idea to combine Bill James with Dr. Z, and wrote for the site for six years. He wrote a game-tape column called "Cover-2" for a number of years, and contributed to six editions of "Pro Football Prospectus" and the "Football Outsiders Almanac." In 2009, Doug was invited to join Yahoo Sports' NFL team, and covered Senior Bowls, scouting combines, Super Bowls, and all sorts of other things for Yahoo Sports and the Shutdown Corner blog through June, 2013. Doug received the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse from SI.com in 2013, and that was that. Doug has also written for the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the New York Sun, FOX Sports, ESPN.com, and ESPN The Magazine. He also makes regular appearances on several local and national radio shows, and has hosted several podcasts over the years. He counts Dan Jenkins, Thomas Boswell, Frank Deford, Ralph Wiley, Peter King, and Bill Simmons as the writers who made him want to do this for a living. In his rare off-time, Doug can be found reading, hiking, working out, searching for new Hendrix, Who, and MC5 bootlegs, and wondering if the Mariners will ever be good again.