[Cooper]

This is very simplified analysis, but it seemed to me the game came down to the tight ends .vs the middle linebackers. The Texans TE was able to create a huge amount of space against Rey Maulauga and Gresham could not create any space against their coverage. I'm sure some of that comes down to scheme ie...how was Houston able to clear out all that space and make it so obvious that Ray cannot cover anyone. I also saw Gresham matched up against a cornerback or 2 but didn't sit down or box them out like usual TE's can do. I'm gonna guess at least 6 catches of 12 or more yards were against Ray M in space -lots of space.
I have nothing to base this on -the Bengals MLB doesn't appear to be the smartest guy in the world.
If anything - Dalton needs to have less options - he appears to be overwhelmed with too may things to decipher, thus he does nothing - indecision has taken over his game. The guy appears to be bright and maybe in 3 years he'll be able to handle check downs and reads much quicker - right now he's just too overwhelmed. Same things happens in baseball when you turn a starter into a reliever -they trash their worst 2 pitches and get down to what they do best -sometimes simple is better.