A.J. Green is supposed to be one of the game's super-elite receivers -- a Megatron or Larry Fitzgerald type of guy. But he's surprisingly not been all that good around the end zone. That's what the numbers suggest, anyway.
I've got the numbers for the last four years in front of me, 2011-2014. The team-by-team breakdowns for all pass plays inside the 10.
In that part of the field, Green has caught 18 of 43 passes in the last four years, with 11 TDs.
Some will rush to blame that on Andy Dalton. That's how it tends to work in this business. You decide a guy is good. If the numbers are good, that serves as confirmation. If the numbers are poor, you blame somebody else.
It could be that Green is a very good receiver but simply just not all that great in that part of the field, which is what my gut tells me. (Calvin Johnson, by the way, also isn't all that great around the goal line).
With Cincinnati, it occurs to me they'd be wise to use their tight end more in that part of the field. In the same four years, Jermaine Gresham has caught 1 more touchdown with less than half as many plays. They've gone 14 of 21 when passing to Gresham, with 12 TDs. Again, 18 of 43, with 11 TDs, when going for Green.
Gresham, of course, has undergone back surgery and won't necessarily even be back. Tyler Eifert could get a lot of those looks. They've also got Marvin Jones healthy again; Jones caught 7 of 8 passes inside the 10 two years, ago, with 4 TDs.
—Ian Allan