Mark Dominik: Bengals shouldn’t bench Andy Dalton

As far as Mark Dominik is concerned, the Cincinnati Bengals don’t need to make a quarterback change on top of the move they made Friday by firing offensive coordinator Ken Zampese and replacing him with quarterbacks coach Bill Lazor.

Dominik, former general manager of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and current SiriusXM NFL Radio co-host, said Andy Dalton should remain the Bengals’ QB through at least the halfway point of the season.

‘I’ve seen Andy Dalton be a consistent player’

The Bengals’ 0-2 start, in which they have yet to score a touchdown (and becoming the first team in NFL history to fail to do so through its first two home games since the Philadelphia Eagles in 1939), doesn’t saw Dominik’s opinion that Dalton can have success.

“I think because I’ve seen Andy Dalton over the last three or four or five years be a consistent player, two games isn’t going to make me panic enough as a coach or as a front-office (executive),” Dominik said on the SiriusXM Blitz. “If I was the general manager of the Cincinnati Bengals or (part of) the ownership group there, because it’s a little different how they structure their front office.

‘I want to see a lot out of Andy Dalton first before I would get that panic part of me’

“Until we see Week Seven or Eight, I would never go to (backup) AJ McCarron. Not yet. I want to see a lot out of Andy Dalton first before I would get that panic part for me, personally, just because I’ve seen Dalton play well enough. And I still can always go to AJ McCarron if I need to, but I’m not going to do that right now. I’ve got too much invested and I’ve seen good Andy Dalton enough to say he can work himself through this, maybe the team needs to work around him better and little things that we’re not paying attention to.”