Greg Cosell's Film Review: Andy Dalton's TD was high-level quarterbacking

Cincinnati's Andy Dalton made a great play last week that’s a great example of the mental part of the game and the physical part of the game coalescing on one play.

It was a 76-yard touchdown pass to Mohamed Sanu in the third quarter against the Falcons, and Dalton played it well before the snap and after the snap. it showed a great understanding of the nuances of the quarterback position.

The play started when Dalton got to the line. He saw both Atlanta safeties five yards off the line of scrimmage.

When that happens, an alert goes off: This is "cover zero," a blitz with no safety in the middle of the field. Because Dalton saw that before the snap, he knows he has to increase his protection. He knows there will be six rushers, maybe seven. So he motions Gresham from wide out to the left to a spot tight to the formation.

Now he has seven protectors – the five offensive linemen, Gresham and running back Giovani Bernard. Now they’re not outnumbered.

Dalton also slides the protection to his right, meaning the offensive linemen would slide and block to their right and Bernard and Gresham would handle the backside rushers to the left. That was perfect understanding by Dalton before the snap what to do. But it's the NFL, and sometimes things don't go as planned.

Left tackle Andrew Whitworth didn't execute his slide effectively and Falcons lineman Jonathan Babineaux had a clean shot at Dalton. All of a sudden Dalton is forced to make a tough throw under duress, which he didn't expect. And he made a great throw, with tremendous accuracy, standing in against the rush.

Sanu caught it and with no deep safety, turned it upfield for a 76-yard touchdown.

It’s a shining example of what the quarterback has to do in the pre-snap part of the game, which is the mental phase, and post-snap part of the game, the physical phase, to be successful. That's what you'd expect to see from a quarterback making his 53rd career start, counting playoffs, as Dalton was.

If you talk to most coaches, they’ll talk about the entire process of becoming a good quarterback. You have to learn the basics of your offense, first of all. Next you have to learn the intricacies of the offense. Then No. 3 is starting to learn defenses. And when you understand basic defenses – quarters coverage, man free, cover 3, cover 2, those types of things – you have to learn all the nuances of each defense you'll face. So there are four stages you have to go through. Most coaches will tell you it takes a good three or four years to reach that point. And here we are with Dalton.

Most quarterbacks, with maybe an exception here or there, are worried about just calling the play correctly, getting to the line of scrimmage and running the play, and they have no idea what the defense is. That's what made this a really impressive play by Dalton.

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NFL analyst and NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell watches as much NFL game film as anyone. Throughout the season, Cosell will join Shutdown Corner to share his observations on the teams, schemes and personnel from around the league.