Bengals wait for word on Dalton’s broken thumb, get McCarron ready for

McCarron basically did just that.

On Sunday, the Cincinnati Bengals feared the worst.

“I promised the guys I will do whatever I need to do, I will be up here all week, I will not let them down”, McCarron said. This game against San Francisco could mean the difference between the division title and a wild-card spot for Cincy. Offensively, we thought we could have been better.

“He took a couple good shots there”, Colts coach Chuck Pagano said.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback AJ McCarron (5) throws in the first half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015, in Cincinnati.

“Did he start out (Sunday) being a manager? And this is why we’ve had him here – for times like today”.

Forget the comparisons. For now, McCarron should simply focus on trying to win an National Football League game.

He then repeated that, with emphasis. Jackson made it clear that McCarron will not simply be a “game manager” for the team. The Steelers managed to intercept him twice and on both occasions it was a result of McCarron’s lack of reps. So to think McCarron has the same destiny seems a bit irrational, but that isn’t what the second-year signal caller was implying.

“That’s history”, McCarron said. “Hopefully, we can get Tyler Eifert back”.

“We’ve played in a lot of big games when I was in college but this is a totally new game”, he said. He will practice with the starters this week, and the game plan will be tailored to what he likes to do.

Rawls, who has been starting in place of the injured Marshawn Lynch, broke his ankle and suffered ligament damage during the Seahawks’ 35-6 win over Baltimore on Sunday.

Boswell kicked a 31-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter for a 26-10 lead and Mike Nugent responded for the Bengals with a 27-yard field goal with 10:06 left to narrow it to 26-13. So, this week is about finding those and implementing them. However, the big advantage for the Steelers – over the Bengals in these games – is that now they have the healthy quarterback. “I’m just going to take who we are because there’s also 10 other guys that are playing”.

Here’s the video. As you can probably guess, it’s NSFW and make sure that you don’t have your employer, parents, kids, or anyone else that you don’t want to be around when you watch a video of someone who doesn’t have a firm mastery of the English language curse. And he has a skill set that will allow it to fit for everybody.

“I have not. I’m not concerned about it. There’s enough to be concerned about what’s going to transpire in Heinz Field on Sunday”. I’m not concerned with what we’re going to do with him. “As we move forward we’ll see how he is each and every week and it’ll be up to Andy and the doctors”. That’s OK. That’s nothing new.

And even if A.J. McCarron does, privately, envision that he will seize this opportunity and become Tom Brady, how is that a bad thing to quietly believe? “So whatever it is that we need to do for that to happen is what we’ll do”. He threw three touchdown passes and four interceptions.

“It will be huge”. He resumed throwing last week on his own under the watchful eyes of the strength and conditioning staff. But he has yet to practice with the team since having his hard cast removed and ditching his walking boot two weeks ago.

Oh, and don’t forget the 33-year-old tight end fighting off a promising newcomer, or the 32-year-old running back with a chip on his shoulder roughly the size of Altoona.

Jackson feels it will be, too. He provides them with an identity and he makes everyone around him better. “That’s all. We will”.