With the bye week here, Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton is getting an in-season House call from one of the throwing doctors that spent the offseason with him at Dr. Tom House's quarterbacks camp.
Adam Dedeaux, one of House's coaches from the USC facility, came to Paul Brown Stadium Tuesday and said there's not much for him to do during his visit with the NFL's second-leading passer.
"The way he is preparing for games is showing up on the field. His body movements overall have been very clean," Dedeaux said. "There were times last year he got out of mechanical efficiency and I haven't seen that at all this year."
Dedeaux said they began to see some break down in his mechanics last year starting during the fourth week of the season. But so far so good. When Dalton began his off-season work back in February, one of the changes he made is setting up on-site sessions during the season to make sure there is no drop-off. Dedeaux figures he'll make at least one more trip back to Cincinnati this year "just to keep him going."
"We haven't seen what we saw last year and I think it comes from his attention to detail and sticking to the process," Dedeaux said.
Hard to argue with the numbers. Dalton is on pace to shatter every significant club season passing record with a 116.1 passer rating that trails only Tom Brady's 118.4. Brady, another House client, is tied for second with Dalton with 14 touchdown passes, one behind Aaron Rodgers.
TEZ UPDATE: The Bengals practiced for the last time Tuesday before taking off for the bye week and no one is saying if Pro Bowl WILL backer Vontaze Burfict is going to be out there when they regroup on Monday to begin prepping for the Nov. 1 game in Pittsburgh.
Or if anyone knows.
Burfict said Tuesday he had no updates.
Defensive coordinator Paul Guenther said before practice "it's looking positive right now," but he doesn't know the timetable and how much he'd be able to use him if he's active. Burfict hasn't played in a year since hurting his knee in the Oct. 26 victory over Baltimore and undergoing micro fracture knee surgery in January.
"Whatever the trainers and Marvin (Lewis) decide," Guenther said. "Obviously he'll be a welcome addition. The first thing is to clear what he has to clear from the trainers and once that happens we have a very set way we do things when guys go back on the field. I'm sure we'll ease him back into it and see how he responds."
Burfict, on the physically unable to perform list (PUP), and first-rounder Cedric Ogbuehi (knee) on the reserve non-football injury list, are now eligible to begin practice. Once they are cleared and start practicing with the team, a three-week clock begins ticking in which the club has to decide whether to activate them or put them on season-ending injured reserve. Until that determination is made, the players have a roster exemption and don't have to clear room on the 53-man roster.
INJURY UPDATE: On Monday Lewis said the players injured in Sunday's win in Buffalo should be available for the Steelers. On Tuesday WILL backer Vincent Rey (ankle) and right end Michael Johnson (ankle) didn't work. Neither did cornerback Leon Hall (back) or nose tackle Domata Peko (unknown). Johnson was the only one not on the field.
VINNY BYE: If anyone can use a bye besides Johnson and Hall, it's Rey, the WILL backer who has manfully pinch hit for Burfict. Until last Sunday he had played every defensive snap but three. He missed 29 plays after injuring the ankle and they replaced him with a combination of Emmanuel Lamur, rookie P.J. Dawson, and safety Shawn Williams.
But it looked like Rey was moving around pretty well Tuesday. Still, that's 92 percent of the snaps for a guy that is also co-captain of special teams. Yet he says the change in the practice schedule, where they go hard Wednesday and Thursday, walk-through on Friday with stretching before having an up-tempo walk-through Saturday, has left his body feeling better than in other seasons.
"We all can use this bye. I know I can, too, with this ankle injury," Rey said. "The bye comes at a good time. It's just the ankle from two days ago."
