Tupou (42) played more snaps than Adolphus Washington (21) and Sam Hubbard (47), but it is easy to infer that was probably due t

CINCINNATI (AP)Andy Dalton got thrown into an uncomfortable role as a rookie in 2011 http://www.thebengalslockerroom.com/authentic-tyler-eifert-jersey , handed a starting job in a position that calls for leadership. How do you lead a team when you’re not yet sure what to do? ”You get in the huddle and there are guys that are 10 years older than you,” Dalton said. ”It’s just a different time. Obviously I’m not the same kind of leader now that I was then, but I feel like I did all right that first year.” It’s totally different as Dalton enters his seventh season. Instead of the deer-in-the-headlights look that others noticed that first year, Dalton exudes a veteran’s confidence. And he’s no longer trying to figure out how he fits in the big picture. The Bengals are Dalton’s team now, and everyone knows it. ”He takes the bull by the horns,” coach Marvin Lewis said during the team’s mandatory minicamp this week. ”That’s important. He knows that he’s got to be the leader of the football team. He didn’t need to do that early on because we needed him to focus on being quarterback and to focus on doing his job.” He’s assuming even more of the leadership responsibility this season. The Bengals had several veteran leaders in the locker room the last few years. Left tackle Andrew Whitworth and defensive tackle Domata Peko arranged and directed the veterans’ workouts during the NFL’s 2011 lockout. Linebacker Rey Maualuga was a co-captain, along with Dalton. All three are gone this year, leaving Dalton as one of the team’s longest-tenured players. ”It may require a little more of me Womens C.J. Uzomah Jersey , but I think of other guys, too, kind of stepping up in those positions,” Dalton said. ”I felt I was already kind of established in that position.” His last two seasons have established him as one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks as well as a team leader. Dalton had the AFC’s top passer rating in 2015 at 106.3 before he broke his right thumb late in the season. He followed that with another impressive season even though he was one of the league’s most-sacked QBs. He threw for 18 touchdowns and only eight interceptions in 2016, finishing with a passer rating of 91.8 despite missing receiver A.J. Green for much of the season. He also expanded his leadership role. Teammates said he was more verbal about getting everything right in practice. ”You start as a rookie, you’re obviously in a leadership position, but you haven’t done anything yet,” Dalton said. ”But once you’re at the point where I’m at in my career Carl Lawson Jersey White , it’s easier to say things, especially to the younger guys. It’s easier for them to listen because I’ve got the experience doing it.” Part of his role now is urging other veterans to move into more of a leadership role. ”Guys talk about it, and I think it kind of happens naturally, too,” Dalton said. ”As we get to training camp and start playing games and have competition, I think we’ll see it more.” NOTES: Second-year receiver Cody Core hurt his lower left leg on the last play of practice. He was in severe pain on the field, and was taken by cart for X-rays. The Bengals had no update on severity of his injury. Core caught 17 passes for 200 yards as a rookie. … Heavy rain prompted a 25-minute halt midway through practice. The start of practice on Tuesday also was briefly delayed by rain. … Top draft pick John Ross participated in conditioning drills but was held out of any activities that would involve using his arms. The receiver is recovering from a torn labrum. … Cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick participated in drills but not in plays for the second straight day. He’s recovering from a hand injury. — The Bengals got whooped on Sunday, there is no way around that. Injuries no doubt played a slight part Womens Ryan Glasgow Jersey , but Cincinnati is dealing with enough issues that a 51-14 loss to the Saints isn’t anything to be brushed off. Some of the more telling answers to the game lie in the game’s snap counts.Here are the snap count takeaways:75 snaps to 43. That was how many snaps the Saints had compared to the Bengals. The fact that Cincinnati had the ball for that many plays was a bit surprising when it seemed as if New Orleans had the ball for almost the entire game. The Saints did in fact have the ball for just over 39 minutes, so that actually is kind of true. It is hard to say every week that the Bengals have to get better on third down. Still, this week Cincinnati’s defense never forced the Saints to punt, and the offense was 0-6 on third downs. Not quite the winning recipe you expect.With A.J. Green injured, we saw a taste of how the snaps could shake out at receiver. Tyler Boyd (41) and John Ross (36) led the way, but for some reason the third receiver was essentially Cody Core (20) who had two catches for 17 yards on the day. To be fair to all the receivers, Andy Dalton didn’t have his best outing. He under threw a couple deep balls to Ross when he had a step on his defender. However, it is still baffling that this team is trotting Core out for meaningful offensive snaps when he has shown he won’t do almost anything with them. Especially when this was rookie wide receiver Auden Tate’s first active game of the year Hardy Nickerson Jersey , but he didn’t even see a snap or target until Jeff Driskel had taken over for Dalton.Speaking of Driskel, the Bengals used him as an option quarterback on their touchdown drive, and it really took the defense off guard. Then we never saw that concept again until Driskel ran it when they had the white flag unit in, and he scored their second and final touchdown of the game. The Saints have one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, so we can’t be too harsh on the defensive line. At some point you’d expect the defensive coordinator to bring a fifth guy on the pass rush more often, but it has become clear that isn’t this teams style. Jordan Willis actually led the way with 60 snaps. He had almost nothing to show for it though. For some reason Josh Tupou (42) played more snaps than Adolphus Washington (21) and Sam Hubbard (47), but it is easy to infer that was probably due to the score being so out of hand early. It will be interesting to see how this changes with Washington reportedly out multiple weeks. Jordan Evans appeared to be the guy at linebacker for the Bengals on Sunday. He played 71 snaps, but he is the player we expect him to be at this point. He is a huge liability in pass coverage http://www.thebengalslockerroom.com/authentic-shawn-williams-jersey , but a pretty good run defender nonetheless. Obviously, injuries have forced him into a bigger role than he should have, but he got the most snaps of any linebacker, so we have to talk about it because he gave up quite a few big pass plays. It was pretty obvious the Saints didn’t target him by accident either.It looked like the Bengals planned on having Clayton Fejedelem play a role as the third safety to help out against the pass. He played 17 snaps before getting hurt and leaving the game. That caused the team to use more of Darius Phillips (42) who also helped fill in for an injured Dre Kirkpatrick. We saw an extended amount of KeiVarae Russell (26) after that as well. Some may try to point to those injuries as a reason the Bengals got rolled over, but they were already down by at least three touchdowns before anyone went down.The biggest question mark Sunday was the lack of Joe Mixon. He only had 13 touches on the day, and he finished with 85 yards. It doesn’t make sense to abandon the run as early as the Bengals did, and it really doesn’t make sense to take your best offensive player out of the game. He only played 29 snaps. That is unacceptable when the team is without Green already.Bengals’ Snap Counts#POS.NAMESnapsPercentage of snaps#POS.NAMESnapsPercentage of snaps