Andy Dalton is trying something new this offseason as he prepares for his fourth season as the Bengals quarterback.
Dalton is preparing for next week's session at USC with throwing guru Tom House, the former major-league pitcher who has taken NFL quarterbacks from Tom Brady and Drew Brees to Dalton's predecessor, Carson Palmer, under his wing.
"I haven't done something like this before. It will be good to hear a different view of how to throw the ball," said Dalton Monday morning from Fort Worth, Texas, before he and wife Jordan made a donation to the Cook Children's Medical Center later in the day.
You'll be hearing a lot about House next month, April 8 to be exact, when he celebrates catching Hank Aaron's 715th homer that passed Babe Ruth on the all-time list while he stood in the Braves bullpen. These days House, 66, who became a highly-regarded pitching coach, is helping quarterbacks that went to his alma mater of USC, such as Palmer and Matt Cassel, and those that didn't, like Brady and Joe Flacco.
"I'm a rotational-athlete evaluator," House told NFL.com a few years back. "Pitching, quarterbacking, tennis, golf, hitting ... all rotational athletes have the same timing, the same kinematic sequencing -- hips, shoulders, arms and implement. And depending on the verbiage, the same mechanics as each other. It's all the same, in order of importance: timing, sequencing and mechanics."
In 2012 The Los Angeles Times mapped out how House uses a combination of video and geometry to zero in on throwing mechanics.
"Three-dimensional renderings generated by a system of eight high-speed cameras positioned at various angles, and simultaneously shooting light-sensitive dots (are) affixed to the athlete. A computer then connects the dots and forms a stick figure that, for example, shows the quarterback's head is tilted too far to one side when he's releasing the ball."
Dalton likes that idea.
"He has a cool program filming a lot of throws with slow-motion cameras trying to find different things," Dalton said. "It's going to be good to see where I'm doing well with my motion in different areas and where they can improve it.
"I know he's worked both with Brady and Brees. I thought it would be helpful to get another opinion, get another look to see where I can improve."
Monday is a big day in the life of the Andy and Jordan Dalton Foundation. The couple participated in a press conference and ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of "Andy's Hub Presented by Albertsons," in the Infusion Center of the Dodson Specialty Clinics at Cook's.
The Hub is a locker filled with iPads, notebook computers, DVD players, gaming systems and other items to help chronically and critically ill children through treatment or recovery.
