[Bcatswin]

Bengals’ Dalton and Green Making Rare Rookie Magic
By CHASE STUART

With two minutes left in the first half, the Bengals led the Seahawks, 10-3, on Sunday. Cincinnati called a play-action pass, but the pocket collapsed on the rookie quarterback Andy Dalton as he began to execute the fake handoff. With multiple Seahawks players crashing toward him, Dalton stepped up and fired a bomb into the end zone. At the same time, the rookie receiver A.J. Green had gained a step on Seattle safety Earl Thomas. As Green reached the end zone, Dalton’s pass hit him perfectly in stride for a 46-yard touchdown. It was the fifth touchdown reception for Green this season, and the fourth time he’s connected with Dalton for a score (Bruce Gradkowski was responsible for Green’s first touchdown catch as a pro). If Green and Dalton can connect six more times over the next nine weeks, they will become the first pair of rookie teammates to combine for 10 passing touchdowns.

A.J. Green’s success has been a matter of when, not if; Sports Illustrated profiled him after his sophomore season in high school and correctly tabbed that he’d star in the N.F.L. by 2011. As a true freshman, Green led the Southeastern Conference in receiving yards and touchdowns. Against eventual national champion Auburn, Green caught 9 passes for 164 yards and 2 touchdowns. To no one’s surprise, he was the first receiver off the board, at No. 4 in the 2011 draft.

Andy Dalton’s collegiate career was even more successful. Dalton started an incredible 50 games for Texas Christian University. He helped turn the Horned Frogs into a national power, winning 26 of his last 27 games. Dalton was named the Mountain West Conference’s offensive player of the year in both 2009 and 2010, and his signature moment came when he guided T.C.U. to a Rose Bowl victory over Wisconsin. But N.F.L. scouts harbored some skepticism, for the usual reasons: Dalton lacks ideal size and arm strength. His success was partly written off as a product of playing in a spread offense against a lower level of competition; the win-loss record was mostly attributed to the most dominant defense in the country.

The Bengals did not hide their interest in Dalton, but were not enamored enough with him to trade up into the end of the first round to select him. After drafting Green, Cincinnati sat idly by as Dalton fell past suitors in in Seattle and Buffalo until the Bengals could draft him with the 35th overall selection.

Together, Dalton and Green are breaking the rules when it comes to rookie quarterback/receiver combos. They’re almost certainly going to be the most productive such pair in at least the past 40 years. Let’s take a look at some of the most notable rookie quarterback/rookie wide receiver combinations in league history.

The Last 20 Years

The 2000s had a lot of great rookie performances by both quarterbacks and receivers, but they never came by players on the same team. Rookie receivers weren’t key targets for Matt Ryan or Ben Roethlisberger, or for Byron Leftwich, Vince Young, Joe Flacco, Sam Bradford and Mark Sanchez. Not too surprisingly, Anquan Boldin, Michael Clayton, Eddie Royal, Marques Colston, Mike Williams, Andre Johnson and other top rookie receivers of the past decade weren’t catching passes from rookie quarterbacks.

By any measure, the most recent rookie quarterback/receiver combo to have any sort of success was Tim Couch and Kevin Johnson, who were serviceable as rookies for the expansion Cleveland Browns in 1999. Johnson caught 66 passes for 986 yards and 9 touchdowns, while Couch averaged 6.1 yards per pass attempt and threw for more touchdowns than interceptions.

There is only one other such duo of note in the past 20 seasons. In 1995, St. Louis’s Tony Banks led the league in yards per completion and finished above league average in yards per pass attempt. The man on the receiving end of his long passes was the rookie Eddie Kennison, who scored 9 touchdowns, gained 924 yards, and finished 9th in the league in yards per catch. Banks and Kennison and Couch and Johnson are remembered as disappointments in St. Louis and Cleveland, but they were the most productive rookie quarterback-receiver combinations in the ’90s. If A.J. Green can finish with 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns while Dalton produces league-average efficiency numbers, then they’ll go down as the best rookie quarterback-receiver battery in at least the last 20 seasons.

Historical View
The standard for passer-receiver rookie productivity was set in Cleveland in 1946. Otto Graham, fresh off his service with the Coast Guard, was a rookie for the expansion Browns in the inaugural season of the All-America Football Conference. Dante Lavelli, an Army man whose path had crossed with the Cleveland Browns founder Paul Brown, returned from World War II and was recruited to play for the Browns. That move worked out pretty well. Lavelli led the AAFC in receptions and receiving yards, Graham led the league in touchdown passes, and the Browns went 12-2 and won the AAFC championship. Graham and Lavelli played in Cleveland for a decade, winning titles in the AAFC and the N.F.L.; both players have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Charlie Conerly was drafted by the Redskins in 1945, while he was still in college. He was named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year in 1947, and was traded by the Redskins to the Giants before the start of his rookie season. Conerly was an immediate success in New York: in 1948, he finished second in the league in both passing yards and passing touchdowns. His top target was the rookie Bill Swiacki, who caught 10 touchdowns in 12 games (nine from Conerly) and finished fourth in the league in receptions.

Four years later, Babe Parilli and Billy Howton brought optimism to a Packers team that had struggled offensively after Don Hutson retired in 1945. Howton led the league in receiving yards and caught 13 touchdowns (5 from Parilli) during the 12-game season. Parilli served as the team’s punter and shared time at quarterback with veteran Tobin Rote; together, the Packers led the league in passing touchdowns in ’52. Thanks in large part to Howton, Parilli averaged 18.4 yards per completion and finished second in the league in yards per attempt.

In 1956, Johnny Unitas and running back/receiver/utility man Lenny Moore were rookies in Baltimore. Both had Hall of Fame careers, but Moore was mostly used as a running back in his first season with the Colts.

The berth of the American Football League enabled players just out of college to play immediately. Houston Oiler Bill Groman caught 72 passes for 1,473 yards and 12 touchdowns in his — and the league’s — rookie season of 1960. Most of his touchdowns came from George Blanda, but 21-year-old quarterback Jacky Lee played a part in Groman’s big year. Six years later, the league’s Miami Dolphins had a pair of impressive rookies. Bob Griese made the Pro Bowl in the first year of his Hall of Fame career; his favorite target was fellow rookie and Big 10 alumnus Jack Clancy, whose 67 catches ranked third in the league.

In the league’s final season, Greg Cook produced one of the best seasons in rookie quarterback history. One of his top targets was the spectacularly named Speedy Thomas.

The last great rookie QB-WR combo came 40 years ago. In the final week of January 1971, the Patriots selected Stanford quarterback Jim Plunkett with the first pick in the draft. In the 17th and final round, the Rams selected Plunkett’s Cardinal teammate, Randy Vataha. Four weeks earlier, the two teamed up to help Stanford win its first Rose Bowl in 30 years, as Vataha caught the decisive touchdown pass to beat Ohio State. When Vataha didn’t make it out of training camp with the Rams, he joined the Patriots and his former teammate, Plunkett. The two combined for some rare quarterback-receiver magic. Vataha took to the N.F.L. in seamless fashion: in ’70, he caught 54 passes for 895 yards and 7 touchdowns at Stanford; as a rookie in New England, he caught 51 passes for 872 yards and 9 touchdowns in ’71. Vataha finished second in the league in touchdown catches, fifth in receptions and sixth in yards, while Plunkett finished second in the league with 19 touchdown passes (after throwing 18 his senior year at Stanford).

Five years later, the expansion Seahawks led the league in pass attempts while finishing last in rushing. The passing attack relied on a pair of rookies, including the Hall of Famer Steve Largent. Largent finished sixth in the league in receptions, while quarterback Jim Zorn ranked in the top 10 in passing yards and passing touchdowns (while leading the league in attempts and interceptions).

The most productive pair of rookies at quarterback and receiver in the ’80s came in Washington. Gary Clark caught 72 passes for 926 yards as a rookie in 1985, before making the Pro Bowl in each of his next two seasons. After Lawrence Taylor ended Joe Theismann’s career, Jay Schroeder came in and led the Redskins to a 4-1 record while finishing with better than average efficiency numbers.

Since then, N.F.L. teams have been reluctant to start rookie quarterbacks, and even less willing to pair them with equally inexperienced receivers. When teams do, the results usually end up looking like what we saw in Carolina last season with Jimmy Clausen and David Gettis. Banks and Kennison and Couch and Johnson, as lackluster as it may sound, have been the best-case scenarios for teams that elect to go with rookies at quarterback and wide receiver over the past couple of decades. Before Green and Dalton this season, those were the only two pairs to record even five receiving touchdowns as rookies in the last 35 years.

What would be more likely scenarios? The 2002 Texans drafted David Carr with the first overall pick and teamed him up with Jabar Gaffney at the top of the second round. In 1998, the Colts selected Peyton Manning with the first pick…. and Jerome Pathon in the second round to develop alongside him. The Dolphins took Ted Ginn and John Beck in the first two rounds of 2007; the Lions followed up the Calvin Johnson pick with Drew Stanton. Buffalo took Lee Evans and J.P. Losman in the first round of the 2004 draft.

As you can see, it’s not unusual for a team to try to solve its passing game’s woes with two big swings in the draft, as the Bengals did last April. The unusual part is to see the results be so positive and immediate.

[billysink]

—Seattle rookie cornerback Richard Sherman was not impressed with fellow rookie, Cincinnati receiver A.J. Green.

In his first career start, Sherman finished with an interception against Green, and also broke up a pass to Green later in the game that resulted in an interception for teammate Kam Chancellor.

Sherman gave up a 14-yard touchdown to Jerome Simpson, but for most of the game he was matched up with Green, and the two rookies were jawing at each other most of the game.

"I would say he's probably one of the most overrated receivers out there," Sherman said of Green. "He wasn't anything special. (Andy) Dalton was a good quarterback. He makes good decisions, but A.J. Green is just a lot of noise talking and bad routes."

USA TODAY TEAM REPORTS

[Bcatswin]

Read that earlier as well billy, same time as other article. Would have to say there is more stock in Green than Sherman. Just made a fool out of himself.

[billysink]

I think the opinion of Sherman is backed up by the fact that two balls that were thrown Green's way wound up in the hands of the other team as noted in the report. Sherman makes note that Green is not a crisp route runner, supported by the fact two picks were recorded on balls thrown to him. Sherman did go out and make props to Andy Dalton in this case for making plays.

The article quoted by you is from a freelance reporter who was not on the field. I think the grain of salt should go to the reporter not someone who was in the game.

I agree that Green has talent but is very raw at this point. In watching the matchup (I had the over and was forced to watch that garbage) I noted that Dalton has savvy and presence beyond his years. It was not pretty and his stats were mediocre but a win in that environment with no running game to rely on was surely an accomplishment. Green on the other hand seemed to be out of position and lacking effort at times.

[HoulihansTX]

Sherman sounded like a hater right there.

[Bengals28]

Too bad green was 5 yards in front of that bum and dalton underthrew him? Is that dude serious?

[Bcatswin]

Dumbass