In McCarron Cincinnati trusts
Steelers are the favourites, but Bengals quarterback has been on the big stage before
CINCINNATI — AJ McCarron will start at quarterback for the Bengals on Saturday night, when he will attempt to end the franchise’s 25-year playoff victory drought.
That doesn’t mean he isn’t still the young guy in the locker-room trying to fit in.
The former Alabama star emerged from the Bengals training room to do a quick session with the waiting media on Thursday morning at Paul Brown Stadium, but he answered only one question before the man he is replacing, the injured Andy Dalton, piped up behind him.
“You gotta be outside in a minute!” Dalton hollered. “Can’t be late, AJ! You gotta be outside right now!”
Bengals PR man Jack Brennan said McCarron had 45 more seconds to chat, but McCarron wasn’t taking any chances.
“Nah,” McCarron said, “I’m not getting cussed out.”
And with that, the 25-year-old with three NFL starts under his belt bolted for the field, not wanting to miss the practice’s 11 a.m. start time. We assume he avoided the wrath of head coach Marvin Lewis, and if McCarron can beat the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday in their AFC wild card game, Bengals fans will be doing the furthest thing from cussing him out.
Can McCarron get it done with Dalton recovering from a broken thumb suffered against the Steelers on Dec. 13? The bookies don’t think so, as the Steelers have been installed as threepoint favourites.
The mood in the Bengals’ lockerroom, naturally, is quite the opposite when it comes to belief in McCarron, although members of the defence admit they are putting a little more pressure on themselves to make it easier on the young man who guided the Crimson Tide to back-to-back BSC championships.
“It’s up to us to go out there and just give a little bit more effort and have just a little bit extra about ourselves, because we’re going to need it,” cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick said. “We’re wounded back there, so we gotta pick up the slack this week.”
Defensive end Carlos Dunlap, who led the Bengals with 13 1/2 sacks this season, was more specific when it came to his defence’s goals.
“We put that pressure on ourselves, because we want to put him in the best situation possible,” Dunlap said. “Force turnovers, get turnovers, and put him in easy field position so he can get the ball to those weapons that score all the touchdowns.”
McCarron struggled against the Steelers when he replaced Dalton in the first half on Dec. 13, serving up a pair of picks in the eventual 33-20 loss, but he hasn’t thrown an interception since in wins over the 49ers and Ravens, and in an OT loss to the Broncos.
On the other hand, Cincinnati has averaged only 21.7 points per game with McCarron at the controls, compared to 28 when the veteran Dalton was running the offence.
Kirkpatrick played with McCarron at Alabama, and he said his quarterback is the same guy he’s always been.
“Obviously as the guy’s gotten older, he’s grown up, but other than that, his play’s still the same,” Kirkpatrick said. “He’s still got that fiery attitude that I like about him. He’s a born leader.”
Nor has the pressure of a playoff start in a town starving for a playoff win impacted McCarron, according to Kirkpatrick.
“No. Same as always,” he said. “He’s super confident, vocal, patient. He’s a good guy, so all the guys are more than confident in him.”
That attitude was more than evident in McCarron’s brief meeting with the media Thursday morning.
“It’s just another game to me,” McCarron said. “It’s a great opportunity for us as a team to make it into the next round, but for right now it’s just another game. I’m just enjoying the moment and living in the moment.”
After all, the guy’s been on a massive stage before. Playing quarterback for the Crimson Tide in the national championship game — twice — is almost as big as it gets.
“He has that experience always to draw from,” Lewis said. “No question it beats the alternative, but he has been in big settings, big games. He’s been through that in his college (career), and he’s had opportunities this season in the four games he’s played in for us.”