INDIANAPOLIS -- In case there was any lingering mystery regarding the way the Cincinnati Bengals' coaching staff feels about backup quarterback AJ McCarron, coach Marvin Lewis provided some clarity in a media interview room inside Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday night.

What you need to know is this: The Bengals really like the second-year gunslinger.

"We're really comfortable with where he is right now," Lewis said.

It hasn't been hard to see why.

Much like he did in last week's 21-10 win over the Chicago Bears, McCarron on Thursday weathered a bevy of assaults from an Indianapolis Colts defense that was hellbent on forcing him to make plays. According to McCarron, Colts defensive coordinator Greg Manusky "wants to make a quarterback try to beat them."

That's exactly what McCarron and third-string quarterback Keith Wenning ultimately did, filling in for starter Andy Dalton and leading three Bengals drives that resulted in field goals. The three kicks were just enough for Cincinnati to hold on for a 9-6 win to close out their preseason.

Although McCarron had a productive day in the air, passing behind a shoddy, hole-filled second-team offensive line for 219 yards in nearly three full quarters of play, it was what he did on the ground that most impressed Lewis. Four times McCarron went down because he was sacked. Four times he picked himself up, much to his coaches' delight.

"The protection isn't always exactly what we want, but yet he's staying poised to it, poised through it," Lewis said.

Poise is precisely what coaches look for while scouting quarterbacks to develop. The fact Lewis believes McCarron has it is yet another sign the Bengals believe they have a dependable backup.

Here's another sign: McCarron's belief that he can take hard hits and bounce back from them.

"That's my job. That's what I get paid for," McCarron said. "Like I said from the start, if my number ever gets called, they can depend on me. I'll stand in the pocket and take hits. Hits don't bother me. I've been hit my whole life."

Just before his sixth birthday, McCarron was involved in a serious collision when he hit a pier during a boating accident. While he and another young cousin rode on a wave-runner that was being driven by his father, McCarron accidentally mashed the gas, causing him to get launched into the pier. The resulting head injury originally had doctors predicting he would die.

He proved them wrong. Nine days before his 25th birthday, McCarron still has scars from the accident that are visible in his low-cut hair.

Perhaps the most important lesson he's learned over the years from the entire ordeal was that he could go through difficult moments both on and off the football field, and still get up and keep going.

"Getting hit by a pier is a lot worse than getting hit by a guy," McCarron said.

Philosophies like that are the backbone to McCarron's competitive nature. It's that competitiveness that caught the Bengals' attention two years ago and convinced them he had to be their backup for Dalton.

So far, that's looking like a good move.

 

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