All the good will Andy Dalton built up over the course of the 2015 season seems to have vanished over the course of a sequence of events on Monday Night Football.
The Bengals quarterback has been the subject of numerous attacks for his overly sensitive response to J.J. Watt's comments after the Texans' 10-6 upset victory.
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Houston's gregarious defensive end engaged in some mild trash talk about Dalton after the Texans knocked Cincinnati from the ranks of the unbeaten. Dalton had one of his worst performances of the season, completing 22-of-38 passes for 197 yards with zero touchdowns and one interception.
Based on his 0-4 record in playoff games, Dalton has developed a reputation for being mediocre in pressure situations. He had begun to overcome that rap with the Bengals' 8-0 start.
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Monday night set Dalton back.
Watt referred to Dalton by his nickname, "Red Rifle," and all hell broke loose -- at least in Dalton's mind.
"Our goal was to come in here and make the 'Red Rifle' look like a Red Ryder BB gun, and I think we did that," Watt said to ESPN.
The Cincinnati quarterback responded with quite the overreaction.
"I'm disappointed in him," Dalton said in his postgame press conference, as reported by Pro Football Talk. "The integrity of this game -- I have a lot of respect for him. He's a really good player. There's a lot of kids and a lot of people who look up to him. For him to make comments like that, he's showing that's acceptable to do that kind of stuff, to say that kind of stuff. It's disappointing for one of the best players in this league to come out and say something like that. That's all I'm going to say about that. I think J.J. is a good player, but for him to be one of the best in this league and to show that integrity, and to show that type of ... it shows what he's about, which is disappointing."
Criticism came swiftly.
"Sorry, what?" USA Today Sports' For the Win asked. "It's one of the most absurd responses you will hear from the NFL press conference."
Dalton also drew backlash from the Los Angeles Times.
"J.J. Watt is a disappointment," the Times reported. "The Houston Texans star defensive end has damaged the integrity of the NFL. He's let down all the children who consider him a role model.
"... But in light of his reaction to Watt's comment, I think we can still safely say that Dalton is easily disappointed."
Pro Football Take came down hard on Dalton.
"In a league that still allows Greg Hardy to play on Sundays, it's the guy making a joke about redheads that is harming the integrity of the game.
"Watt's comments weren't particularly funny, but in the realm of things to get upset about they barely even register on the list. Dalton's appeal of 'Oh, but what about the children?' is maybe even more ridiculous."
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