Dalton may serve as Bengals’ backup after getting cast removed

“It’s not going to change later in the week”, Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said today.

“I’ve learned a lot about myself, about this team”, Mallett said. For the first time since 2007, the Ravens went into a regular-season finale knowing they wouldn’t advance to the playoffs. They were still jockeying for playoff seeding and had to win to keep alive their hopes of getting a first-round bye. He played much steadier in the second half.

Dalton, who broke the thumb on his throwing hand during a December 13 game against the Steelers, had the cast on his right hand removed after a visit to a local hand specialist on Monday, but his status for the playoffs is still uncertain. He played in three National Championship games at Alabama. The teams got into a scuffle on the field before the game, and had numerous personal fouls throughout it.

AJ McCarron (5) is preparing to start against the Steelers. Jones has scored just once in the last 10 games.

The Ravens now go into a critical offseason where they have to make significant improvements to get back to where they expect to be every season.

– The Bengals are the only team in National Football League history to lose opening-round games in four straight seasons. That includes the Steelers’ 31-17 playoff win in the 2005 season. “Time to right the ship”. The Bengals don’t have an experienced backup should McCarron get hurt.

I’d say that’s a pretty great achievement, considering we have the likes of Revis, Sherman, Peterson, and Norman playing in the NFL.

“He said he remembered”, McCarron said. “After the (GMAC) game, I went under the stadium to the locker room, met his mom, his dad, his sister and him”, McCarron said.

The Bengals have won two of the three games in which McCarron started this year, with the only loss being an overtime loss to the No. 1 seeded Denver Broncos in Week 16. They upset Pittsburgh the previous week, but couldn’t knock off another division rival. After Big Ben threw his second interception to Craig Robertson, James Harrison picked off Austin Davis in the end zone.

Dalton ran a couple of plays early in practice on Tuesday and threw a pass – with his left hand – before raising his arm in celebration and heading back to the sideline to continue his conditioning work. “When the other quarterback turns the ball over and you don’t, you put yourself in position to win”. In the second meeting on December 13, he knocked out Tyler Eifert with a hit to the head that earned him a 15-yard flag and a $23,000 fine. Vontaze Burfict’s interception at the Baltimore 33-yard line set up McCarron’s 5-yard touchdown throw to A.J. Green for a 14-9 lead. Cincinnati led, 21-9, at the end of the third quarter and extended the lead to 24-9 in the fourth. “AJ’s going to do a good job when things happen”. He has a 2-1 record in three starts.

Notes: The crowd of 57,254 was the smallest this season at Paul Brown Stadium….

Cincinnati won for the first time since 1995 without converting a third-down conversion (0-for-9). They also inked linebacker Dezmond Johnson of Duke.