Cincinnati Bengals News and Rumors: AJ McCarron Breaks Decades Old Record in First Start
The last time an Alabama college football quarterback came into the big league and won his first NFL start was Jeff Rutledge. It was in 1987. Now, after almost three decades, that feat has finally been matched by no less than AJ McCarron, who did it on Sunday.
The young star went 15 out of 21 for 192 yards, while making one touchdown pass, with a passer rating of 115.6. He had zero interception, which is good, but was sacked four times. According to him, he had to protect the lead the Bengals had by making sure he's not throwing any interception.
As for his team, they need more than just McCarron's decent start. Improvement is clearly needed in the offensive line and the run game. It also was a mystery in the game that Giovani Bernard got the starting nod when Jeremy Hill was there all along, looking to be healthy and ready to play.
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But immediately after the game, McCarron believed his first start felt good enough. "I felt especially in the first half we did a good job of up-tempo and pushing the ball down the field. We just have to come out with the same energy in the second half," he said.
The rest of the way, he was particularly focused on Marvin Jones as his designated target, throwing him six passes in which four of those six were caught for 89 yards. On the other hand, Bernard also got 4/4 passes, good for 18 yards, but it was Tyler Kroft who got McCarron's single touchdown pass the whole afternoon.
The young quarterback admitted, though, that he felt some butterflies before the start of the game, but quickly defended his statement by saying that he was confident about the team's game plan. Next up for the Bengals in Week 16 are the Denver Broncos for Monday Night Football.
