Was recently a guest on The Gym Bag podcast hosted by former NFL safety George Iloka, so I took the opportunity to ask him about the possible Tom Brady successor that everyone loves to hate: Andy Dalton.
Iloka has a unique perspective on Dalton — he competed against him in high school in the Houston area, college and was Dalton's teammate with the Bengals for six seasons.
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Most people are horrified about the thought of Andy Dalton succeeding Tom Brady with the Patriots. They think Dalton is a choker, a Bengal, that they’ll never win anything with him, he’s terrible in playoffs, etc. You played against him in high school and college, you were teammates with him with the Bengals, what do you think about him?
Iloka: So to tackle the first thing, with Patriots Nation saying he’s a choker, he doesn’t win in big games … because I’ve played against him since high school down here in Houston, because I played against him in college in the NFL, Andy was always a winner. Let’s start by saying that. Went to state in high school, won bowl games in college at TCU, one season they went undefeated, went to the BCS (13-0, beat Wisconsin in Rose Bowl), went undefeated again, went to another bowl game against my undefeated Boise State team — we happened to win that one — but my point is
Andy has been nothing but a winner until the time he got in the NFL (34-3 at TCU is final three seasons), so the notion that he’s not a winner … To me, winning is a mentality — being a winner, being a loser is a mentality — he’s won, he’s been a winner throughout his life.
That hasn’t been the case of winning the big game, winning the Super Bowl in the NFL, but how many QBs can really say that besides Tom Brady? He’s been in damn near every Super Bowl the past 10 years. I can understand a fanbase that has been used to Tom would be like anything other than Tom would be scary that we’re not in the Super Bowl every year, but that’s a majority of teams. What were the Patriots before Tom Brady? Were they in the Super Bowl every other year? No, so temper back the expectations, there’s nobody really out there that’s going to match what Tom Brady has been able to do. So relax there, Patriot Nation.
The reason why I’ve been saying this, really since they benched Andy Dalton … when they benched him early in the season last year, I came out and I said he was the scapegoat for the whole thing. At the time they were sixth or seventh in passing yards. Yes, the TD to INT ratio wasn’t where it needed to be. But sort of like this year when people were giving Brady an excuse, he didn’t have all his weapons. AJ Green, the guy Andy has played with really for his whole career, he was out. The offensive line was 31st or 32nd in the league. So there were a lot of things contributing to Andy not playing his brand of ball. Now, he still has to shoulder his share of the blame.
My take is Andy gives you what you have. If you put a good gameplan in place — don’t take this as a knock Patriots Nation — he runs it to the exact T. In today’s NFL, the new-age guys are the guys who can create and make throws out of the pocket. People are used to that. That’s not Andy, although he is athletic enough to deal, it’s not something he’s not done in his career. But he gives you what you have in the gameplan. Hue Jackson had that great year with the Bengals and Andy was in the Pro Bowl. You see what I’m saying? The Patriots, in all my times playing them and watching them, they have never been a team that’s ever had an offense or a defense take the field without a great gameplan. When they lose, it’s usually because they get out-athleted. And that’s hard in the NFL, that’s why they rarely lose. Normally them running their gameplans gets them a lot of wins.
So if you have the Patriots and a guy like Andy, who I feel still can make all the throws needed to win, to me that’s a good relationship that Patriots fans should embrace. I would say, yeah, maybe he gets a little bit flustered when something different comes up and yes you would hope an NFL QB with his experience would see that and deal with it but only like six or seven QBs can deal with that on the fly. But if you put the gameplan in place and you prepare him for what he may see, he’s going to throw you three or four TDs a game and be efficient. He needs protection and weapons. If you’re not going to have a good gameplan in place, you don’t want him Patriots Nation. Or if you’re not going to get a few more weapons like Brady last year, you probably don’t want him.
But if you give him a good gameplan, a few weapons and a good line, Andy Dalton is a good fit for that team, especially with Belichick and Josh McDaniels as the OC.
Obviously it’s going to be a tough deal whoever follows Brady. Dalton seems like he’s often oblivious to what’s being said about him, will he be able to handle that?
I think that’s true. Any player, if you’ve played long enough, you see and hear what’s being said about you. You don’t focus on it, you don’t look for it, but just from the questions that you get, you know what’s being said about you out there. He sees it. But the thing about Andy is he’s a strong believer in Christ. He and his family are very religious. He leads the bible study down there in Cincinnati. Because of his faith and because he internalizes that, he’s confident in who he is, his confidence is not going to waver. He may hear things and see the comparisons, but he’s not going to waver at any point. To me, anything that has shaken Andy has happened on the field, nothing before the field or after it. It would be like a different look, or a blitz that we’re supposed to pick up and he gets smacked. He’s going to be rattled because he didn't expect that. But if it’s something expected, like we’re going to let this guy free off the edge, expect this hit, he’s going to be cool and take that hit and make the throw.
It’s not because he’s dumb or he doesn’t read his press clippings, I just believe he has strong faith in himself that not many things are going to bother him. I thought the way he handled the benching, a majority of the guys wouldn’t be able to handle it like he did. He got benched, didn’t really lash out. You could tell he was frustrated, which I would hope he would be, that’s a competitor, but when they made him a starter again, he went out there and attacked it and he felt it was always his job. That told me he hadn’t lost confidence in himself. You can have a bad stretch, but not be a bad player. He’s wired that way.
What would he be like in the locker room?
He’s not vocal. Andy’s not going to be a rah-rah guy. That’s not him. He’s a guy who needs to be said. If they’re slacking off on offense, he’ll say pick it up. Great teammate. Doesn’t think he’s above the team. Even when he signed the big contract, he was the same guy, never got a cocky vibe from him. First one in kind of guy, last one out. Doesn’t cut corners. He’s going to fit there.
He came from TCU. If anyone knows anything about them, Gary Patterson is a discipline-type guy so Andy’s been brought up under that. At Katy High in Houston, everyone in that area knows them. It’s a discipline-type school. They don’t have the best athletes but they were always around state — it was them and Southlake Carroll. So that’s why he’ll fit into that locker room. The Patriots’ locker room is a place where they respect you if you come in and work and buy into the Patriots way. I believe Andy and the Patriots Way is a good marriage because that’s what he’s been brought up in.
I can tell you now, as a player, that the rah-rah stuff is for the players and the media. We really respond to actions. People respond to Andy. I think it will be a good fit, honestly.