First things first.

Andy Dalton's throwing thumb is just fine. He's been tossing ("nothing intense") for the past two weeks and he's just started shooting baskets. On Thursday he shows new strength coach Joey Boese the whip-fast three-point drill his mates play and when he misses after draining seven straight he shakes it off shaking his head.

"The record is ten straight," he says. "Everybody is going to be back here pretty soon. I've got to get ready."

With rehab and the birth of a third child, Dalton is spending his first offseason in Cincinnati and has cheerfully become the official greeter in the Bengals locker room during the first ten days of the Zac Taylor Era.

"What's up Rod?" he says across the room to second-year guard Rod Taylor, rehabbing the ACL he tore in last year's first padded practice. "Hey, Sam," he says to sophomore defensive end Sam Hubbard, stopping by for a lift. "Get those out of here," he jokes as bustling equipment man Sam Staley shoves some garish shaded cleats his way.

Dalton flexes the thumb that betrayed him for the second time in four years last November when a torn tendon iced him for the last 5.5 games of the season. All good.

"That's the thing you're worried about," Dalton says. "As soon as I got out of the surgery, I wanted to get that motion back. If you have a concern it's, 'Am I going to be able to grip the ball the same?' It's back to normal … It's fine."

When Dalton looks at the thumb, he's not thinking about 2018. He's thinking about 2015 and how the Bengals were flying at 10-2 when his season ended when he broke it and how they couldn't get the bye and then couldn't get by the Wild Card Game and how he had no shot to get that first play-off win.

Never mind '15. Try '12. Not too long ago he looked at that pass in the last minutes of the Wild Card in Houston and painfully recalled how close he and A.J. Green came to the go-ahead score. Maybe a yard too long. Maybe if he didn't have to throw it a half-second faster. Maybe … He knows there would be no maybes and the story of his career and team would be so much different.

"I didn't get to play in the one in '15. I felt like I was a better player in '15 than in previous years," Dalton says. "I feel like I'm a better player now than I ever have been. We just have to put it all together and play our way into the playoffs because the guys that we have with me, A.J., Carlos (Dunlap), Geno (Atkins), guys that have been around, I feel like we're better players than we were when we were in the playoffs. We've got to work our way back to go prove we can advance in the playoffs and win a championship."

Dalton's thumb is about the only thing that's back to normal at Paul Brown Stadium. Upstairs, Taylor is not only blowing up the Bengals' playbook, he's smashing through walls in an architectural Armageddon. Milton would already be downstairs in Storage B in this Office Space revamping. If there is that New Car Smell, then Taylor's New Dey smell is something between sawdust and turpentine. Dalton can't wait to take it out for a spin because he thinks that's his ride back to '15.

Dalton, the incumbent Bengals quarterback who has a higher passer rating than Ken Anderson, more touchdown passes than Boomer Esiason, more wins than Carson Palmer had for the Bengals and Raiders combined and more critics than your local lawmaker, has a big fan in Taylor. In fact, all the head coaching candidates they interviewed were Dalton men and had no plans to move on from him. The feeling is mutual. In high school, college and the pros, he's always had a coach from the defensive side of the ball until now.

"And he's calling the plays, too," Dalton says. "It seems like they're all in with everything here. A lot of stuff is changing. Zac obviously has a plan on how he want it done and we're making it happen. Anytime there are changes it's like, I want to know more. I want to get going. I want to start up. That's what change does. It's going to be different. It's going to make you have to respond have to learn."

Dalton figures he couldn't have picked a better offseason to stick around. The collective bargaining agreement prevents Dalton from Xing and Oing with Taylor and offensive coordinator Brian Callahan. But amid the all the sawing and drilling he can stick his head into their offices and talk about kids, the city and direct them to restaurants and schools. He can do the same chewing the fat with Boese in the weight room.