CINCINNATI -- When Peyton Manning shouted "Omaha!" during the playoffs two years ago, America giggled.

But as strange as it may have been for football fans watching at home to hear microphones pick up Manning randomly throw out the name of the steak-loving Midwestern city at the line of scrimmage, the actions that usually resulted from that call or others made sense. As long as he wasn't giving dummy play calls, whenever the Broncos quarterback called out similar audibles, his offensive players moved with his commands, shifting into more favorable formations and matchups to exploit their defensive counterparts.

Manning isn't the only NFL quarterback who can do that. There's a guy in the Queen City whose head coach raved just this past weekend about how his subtle pre-snap changes keyed a 28-24 win over the host Baltimore Ravens.

"That last touchdown was huge," Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. "He got us in the right play."

Andy Dalton has become better at changing plays at the line of scrimmage. Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Meet Andy Dalton, the maestro of the Bengals' pre-snap changes. In offensive coordinator Hue Jackson's creative, fast-paced system, Dalton regularly sends receivers, rushers or linemen in rhythmic shifts and motion. He has them switch sides of the field in a symphony of changes that in theory will cut down on sacks and runs for losses, and open up passing lanes. Against an aggressive Kansas City Chiefs defense this weekend, the Bengals hope the master is back in peak orchestration.

Most NFL fans know Dalton for his 67 career interceptions and the hazy decision-making associated with many of them, but he has long done what he did in the final two minutes of Sunday's game against the Ravens. He's just starting to show it more consistently.

With the Bengals down three, Lewis left it up to Dalton to direct a play that could get the Bengals in the end zone for what they hoped would be the game's winning score.

It proved to be just that.

Initially, the Bengals had a play on with tight end Tyler Eifert to line up wide, like a right-side receiver. He was in single coverage with Ravens safety Will Hill III.

But when Dalton scanned the defense and saw linebackers creeping up from Eifert's side of the field, he yelled out to the tight end and had him move up close to right tackle Andre Smith's flank. Dalton wanted an extra blocker as he set up the play that he really wanted: a 7-yard left-side fade to Pro Bowl receiver A.J. Green. Helped by running back Giovani Bernard, Eifert gave enough of a chip on blitzing Ravens linebacker C.J. Mosley that Dalton had all day to pass.

"He is the orchestrator of it all," Jackson said. "This is Andy's offense, and I've given him carte blanche to do within what we plan to do as much latitude as I've ever given any quarterback, just because I think he's very, very good at what he does that way."

As far as the Bengals are concerned, there is no "Good Andy" or "Bad Andy." There's only "Pre-snap Andy;" the one who dissects defenses well.

"There used to be a time you would just play system football; whatever coach calls, that's what you do," Jackson said. "To be good in this league and to be really good, you have to be bright enough, smart enough and understand what you are trying to accomplish when the defense changes. He is well-schooled that way. That's something that takes time on his part, a lot of time on the coach's part, and he does it as well as anybody I've ever been around.

"He's taken himself to another level."