Of Andy Dalton's 301 passing yards in Week 1, 131 went to A.J. Green. So you'd think the fourth-year quarterback would be in trouble when his Bengals teammate went down with a foot injury on the first drive of the game Week 2 against Atlanta, before he even had a chance to target the star wide receiver.
But that wasn't the case. Against a defense that entered the day ranked 25th against the pass, Dalton completed 15 of 23 passes for 252 yards. He made especially good use of elusive running back Giovani Bernard, twice dumping it off to him for big gains on what appeared to be broken plays. The first went for 24 yards, the second for 46. Both came in the second quarter
Dalton had only one touchdown pass, but it was impressive one. With the Falcons entire front seven bearing down on him on an all-out blitz early in the third quarter, he threw a strike to Mohamed Sanu down the middle of the field, giving the receiver plenty of room to take it all the way for a 76-yard score.
Dalton will look to keep it going, with or without Green, in Week 3, but he'll be in for more of a challenge against a Titans defense that intercepted the Chiefs' Alex Smith three times in Week 1 and allowed 176 yards to the Cowboys' Tony Romo in Week 2.