AJ McCarron preparing to start in Bengals’ playoff game

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, center left, reacts toward head linesman Kent Payne (79) after a Ravens touchdown was overturned following a review in the first half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016, in Cincinnati. And now it’s McCarron instead of injured starter Andy Dalton practicing with the offense to start the week.

But perhaps, more importantly, it meant the Bengals will nearly certainly have to try to break the playoff drought with AJ McCarron at quarterback.

Cincinnati scored 17 unanswered points and finished the regular season 12-4 for only the third time; it is the most regular-season wins it has had under head coach and ex-Ravens defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis.

McCarron, in his second-year out of Alabama, relieved Dalton for the final three quarters against the Steelers and then started the final three games of the regular season. “I think the whole team, the whole offense is going to step up for this challenge and really prepare hard this week”.

The Ravens defense had a much better performance during the second half of the season as opposed to the first.

The Bengals (12-4) matched the best record in franchise history – they also won 12 games during the 1981 and 1988 seasons when they reached the Super Bowl.

The Steelers can throw on anyone when they are playing their A game and their defense is great against the run but not so good against the pass. The Bengals looked great until Andy Dalton broke his thumb making a tackle. McCarron threw a pair of interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown that put Pittsburgh in control. The Chiefs won in Houston, 27-20, in Week 1.

In that time, they lost Beachum at left tackle and had to go with Alejandro Villanueva, who had played in just six games in his career to that point, for the remainder of the season.

Green has put up at least 1,000 yards in each of his five National Football League seasons, and double-digits in touchdowns three of the five years. So you have to believe Lewis when he says the crackdown on the extracurricular stuff has already happened. “We weren’t as thrilled with some of his decisions his first opportunity”.

He’s facing long odds, too.

If McCarron leads the Bengals to victory on Saturday, he will become the first quarterback to win a playoff game with such little experience since 1979, when Gifford Nielsen led the Houston Oilers to a win in San Diego.

It would be one thing to finally get a victory in the playoffs. “That’s all. It’s important to win and move on”.

If the Bengals defeat the Steelers, there is a chance Dalton could be ready for the Divisional round of the playoffs, but McCarron is Cincinnati’s guy for the fourth straight week.

Notes: The crowd of 57,254 was the smallest this season at Paul Brown Stadium…. That includes the Steelers’ 31-17 playoff win in the 2005 season.

“There’s not a correlation”, Lewis said. The victor of this NFL Wildcard Card Round match-up will travel to New England to face the Patriots the following weekend, hoping to earn a spot in the AFC Championship game, the last obstacle to being a part of SuperBowl 50.