Grading Andy Dalton after much-needed Week 11 victory
It's always a great feeling to wake up early on a Monday morning when your favorite team has won on NFL Sunday. Such is the case for the New Orleans Saints as Victory Monday sure is great and will at least, for now, bring some joy to us all. The Saints took care of business over the Los Angeles Rams to the final score of 27-20.
Sure, the quarterback situation of the Saints is in dire need of clarity come 2023 but for now, we have some good news for a change. Quarterback Andy Dalton put on an absolute clinic and was undoubtedly a catalyst on offense that did his part to ensure the Saints left Caesars Superdome victorious.
He started out the first half a bit rough but once quarterback Taysom Hill started to rotate on plays and gave him some time to process, he started to click on all cylinders. Dalton was flawless under center from that point on and not only kept those chains moving but was looking like his vintage self the football world remembered back in his prime on the Cincinnati Bengals. Dalton completed 21 of 25 passes for 260 passing yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions.
Andy Dalton earns an A for his dominating Week 11 performance
Needless to say, Dalton came to play and executed at the highest level to earn an A grade for his Week 11 performance, especially for how well he bounced back and adjusted accordingly in the second half. Interestingly enough, Dalton was so close to a perfect game but still achieved something that no other quarterback has done so far during the regular season.
Dalton ended his day with a 149.6 percent passer rating which is the highest single-game performance by any quarterback with a minimum of 20 attempts. Talk about coming through in the clutch when your team needed it the most in a late November game that doesn't mean much of anything for any potential NFL Playoff hopes.
The Saints are now 4-7 and at least at the time of this writing, aren't the worst team in the NFC South (sorry not sorry Carolina Panthers). Sure, the Saints will probably not make a playoff run this season but it's nice to at least not see them dead last in the division. Either way, Dalton played one heck of a game, and well, here's to some more victories to end this season on a high note.