The Ugly
Obviously, many fans are ecstatic to see Fields under center right now. Unfortunately, this occurrence had to come with a price. Andy Dalton sustained a left knee injury in the second quarter that sidelined him for the remainder of the game. After getting evaluated on Monday, it turns out that Dalton suffered a bruise to his knee, and no damage to his ACL appeared in the evaluation. It is unknown if Dalton will be healthy enough to play in Week 3.
In the event that Dalton is healthy enough to play, head coach Matt Nagy let it be known, through a team official, that Dalton is the team’s starting quarterback when healthy. There could be a chance that Fields will start against the Browns in Week 3 while Dalton is recovering. If this does happen, and Fields ends up having a spectacular game, this could potentially start a quarterback controversy that could bring some unwanted distraction to the team during the season.
Dalton didn’t have a bad start to the game, completing nine of 11 passes for 56 yards and a touchdown before exiting the game. Fields came in after Dalton’s injury and connected on six of his 13 pass attempts for 60 yards and one interception. However, Fields did carry the ball 10 times for 31 yards.
Dalton’s injury is bad enough, but the possibility of high drama being thrown in the mix could be costly to a head coach and general manager that have been on the hot seat for a while now. And that can turn out to be really ugly.