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McCarron completed 23 of 41 passes for 231 yards with a touchdown and an interception in Saturday's 18-16 Wild Card loss to the Steelers. He also gained nine yards on five carries and had three fumbles, losing one and recovering one.
Although the rookie's final stat line certainly looked respectable, McCarron had a diffcult time holding on to the football throughout the game. He fumbled on successive plays early in the second quarter, with the first miscue the result of a mishandled exchange and the second turnover caused by a Cameron Heyward sack. The third time McCarron was separated from the ball did result in a turnover, with defensive lineman Cam Thomas picking up the ball after it was jarred loose by Jarvis Jones. McCarron's interception came on a badly underthrown pass intended for Marvin Jones in the latter stages of the second quarter that was snagged by the Steelers' Antwan Blake. While the Alabama product certainly gave the Bengals reason for optimism in his four starts in Andy Dalton's stead to finish out the regular season, he was unable to come close to matching the efficiency he'd shown in his 280-yard, two-touchdown effort versus Pittsburgh in his first career start on Dec. 13. He misfired on multiple throws to A.J. Green and Tyler Eifert under admittedly adverse weather conditions, and was generally unable to exploit what had been a highly vulernable Steelers secondary. His clutch fourth-quarter touchdown pass to A.J. Green was a notable exception however, with McCarron rifling a bullet to Green at the Steelers' two-yard line that the star receiver was able to carry into the end zone. Despite the fact that Dalton's thumb should be at full health entering offseason workouts, McCarron undeniably gained invaluable experience and likely gave the Bengals a considerable degree of confidence in the health of the back-up quarterback position with his stint of regular-season starts and one playoff game.
