And Week 4 is again a bad time for the Bengals — they’ve started 0-2 this year and face the Commanders in Week 3 before playing Dalton. Dropping to 1-3 or even 0-4 if Dalton has a revenge game yet again could very well end the season.

“I’ve been around guys. I think Andy Dalton’s got a special character to him and understanding of this offense,” Whitworth recalled saying. “We’ve gotta buckle down and just play with this guy as our quarterback, and we’re gonna be a lot better than you guys think.”

Dalton vs. Raiders defense: Look for plenty of play-action passes by the Panthers, which plays to the 14-year veteran quarterback’s strengths. Dalton is 447 of 692 passing (64.6%) for 5,404 yards with 32 touchdowns and 16 interceptions on play-action passes since 2016, per NextGen Stats.