Best and worst from Andy Dalton in Week 8 win vs Raiders
The New Orleans Saints beat the Raiders on Sunday and shut out the opposition. Andy Dalton, while not stellar, played good enough football to get the Saints a win. He took care of the football and while he did make a few risky throws, the Saints got back into the win column.
Dalton finished the game going 22-of-30 with 229 yards and two touchdowns while throwing zero picks and not getting sacked a single time.
With Dalton's fifth start as a Saint in the books, let's check out what the best and worst from the Red Rifle was in the 24-0 victory.
Worst from Andy Dalton
Early in the second quarter and with the Saints up 7-0, Dalton made an ill-advised throw to Tre'Quan Smith in double coverage. Had Trevon Moehrig remembered that interceptions made out of bounds don't count, the Saints would have had their first giveaway and this is an entirely different ball game.
That was a baaad decision by Andy Dalton throwing it up to Tre'Quan Smith in double coverage. Trevon Moehrig looked like he forgot you need two feet in the NFL. Saints catch a break.
— Jeff Nowak (@Jeff_Nowak) October 30, 2022
Fortunately, Moehrig had the rookie mistake of not catching the ball in bounds so Dalton was bailed out. It says a lot about Dalton's performance in this matchup that his worst play didn't end up affecting the team but it could have made things difficult early in the ball game.
Best from Andy Dalton
This one is more of a broad "best" for the Red Rifle as no one play really stood out as his best.
Instead of picking one single play, I went with Dalton's success when targeting Alvin Kamara through the air. We all know how dangerous Kamara is when he gets going in both the run game and the receiving game and Dalton saw that coming to fruition and kept targeting his running back.
Andy Dalton while targeting Alvin Kamara today: 9 for 10, 96 yards, 2 TD, 146.3 passer rating
— Luke Johnson (@ByLukeJohnson) October 30, 2022
As Luke Johnson noted in the tweet above, Dalton had tremendous success when looking Kamara's way. The running back had his best game of the season totaling three touchdowns with two coming off of passes from Dalton.
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Dalton wasn't spectacular on Sunday but he didn't have to be when Kamara was playing out of his mind. He knew it was better to ride the hot hand than to try and play hero ball and that helped lead New Orleans to victory in Week 8.