10:15 AM ET
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    Coley HarveyESPN Staff Writer

CINCINNATI -- AJ McCarron's first career start went about as well as the Cincinnati Bengals could have hoped.

The backup quarterback was 15-for-21 with 192 passing yards and a touchdown strike in a 24-14 win on the West Coast that sent his team to the playoffs for a fifth straight year. Sure, there were a few hiccups along the way, like his preponderance for taking sacks (four) and an exchange that played a role in a lost fumble, but for the most part, he played well. A case could be made that his offensive linemen and running backs, in particular, didn't always put him in the most advantageous positions.

Regardless, there were several plays in Sunday's game at San Francisco that showed McCarron could one day be a quality quarterback. Here's a quick look at three of them:

Deep balls to A.J. Green/Marvin Jones. On his first passing attempt of the game, a play that came one drive after McCarron was forced to scramble out of bounds on his original would-be passing attempt, the quarterback launched a pass deep down the right sideline to Green that resulted in a 37-yard first-down reception. Of those yards, 33 traveled in the air, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Two quarters later, McCarron launched a perfectly-placed deep ball to Jones, who caught it while two defenders closed. That 47-yard pass traveled 42 yards in the air from the line of scrimmage. Three times in a game-and-a-half of action during the past two weeks, McCarron has thrown passes that traveled 30 or more yards downfield. Starter Andy Dalton hadn't done that all year before injuring his right thumb last week. Give McCarron a good pocket like he had on Sunday's two throws -- and vertical weapons like Green and Jones -- and he'll succeed.

Play-action can be his friend. McCarron had several growth moments on his fifth drive. On the second series of the second quarter, McCarron quarterbacked a possession that ended in a punt, but it still had a couple of promising moments. Namely, he discovered play-action could be his friend. The drive started with a fake to running back Jeremy Hill, who ran out left, while fullback Ryan Hewitt peeled off right for a screen. Wide open, Hewitt caught the pass for a 9-yard gain. Later in that drive, McCarron learned he could be a little inaccurate on a throw (in this case low) and his receivers (in this case Jones) would catch it, as long as there were no defenders around. McCarron also learned his timing was OK, as he hit Green at the right moment on a slant for a third-and-8 conversion. Green couldn't hold on, though, in part because of good coverage and also because of his balky back. Later in the quarter, McCarron executed his next play-action throw, a 20-yard strike over the middle to tight end Tyler Kroft for a touchdown.

Battling adverse situations. Coaches welcome adversity early in players' careers to see how they respond. During one late second-quarter exchange between he and center Russell Bodine, McCarron struggled to get a handle on the football right away. It very easily could have slipped out of his hands for a costly goal-line fumble. But he recovered well enough to turn, and in one motion, put the ball into Hill's midsection as he dove forward for his second 1-yard touchdown run. One of the best lessons a young player can learn in a split second of adversity is this: Just execute the play. McCarron did that, and it had positive results.

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