CINCINNATI -- When Andy Dalton left Sunday afternoon's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers with a first-quarter thumb injury, it ushered in a new era -- who knows for how long right now -- in the Cincinnati Bengals' quarterbacking lineage.
After replacing Dalton in garbage time the past two games, AJ McCarron stepped on the field for the first meaningful snaps of his two-year career.
It's currently unclear how long Dalton will be out, although he will miss next week's game at San Francisco. But in the meantime, why don't we get to know the understudy a little better? Here are three things you need to know about McCarron.
He's a proven winner. It didn't take long Sunday for McCarron to show off the arm that brought him so much success in college at Alabama. On just his fifth pass of the game, McCarron tossed a perfectly placed bomb to receiver A.J. Green, who caught it and ran 66 yards for a touchdown that put the Bengals on the scoreboard. It was the kind of downfield accuracy that impressed the Bengals when they drafted McCarron in the fifth round last year. What else impressed the Bengals during the pre-draft process? McCarron's knack for winning. He first showed that on the hardwood as a member of a strong middle-school basketball team in his hometown, Mobile, Alabama. As a junior at St. Paul's Episcopal School, McCarron rallied his high school team to a 14-1 record and a state championship. Once he made it to college, McCarron's winning ways continued when he was part of two national championship teams at Alabama. He was 36-4 as the Crimson Tide starter under coach Nick Saban.
He's a survivor. The AJ McCarron story was almost one that never got told. When he was 6 years old, McCarron was part of a boating accident that initially had doctors telling his parents to prepare for the possibility that he might die. Just as his mother began making plans for McCarron's funeral attire, his prognosis improved significantly. In very little time, he made a full recovery. Now 25, McCarron still has a reminder of the accident. The result of surgeries that required doctors to work on his skull, McCarron has a scar on both sides of his head. He often was teased as a teenager because of the scars. Although he occasionally wears hats, he isn't afraid of showing off the scars now as a way of letting children who have similar, easily identifiable scars that it's OK to be confident in who you are and what you look like.
He gives back to Mobile. Although McCarron may be known more for his college championships and former beauty queen wife, Katherine McCarron (with whom he announced last week that they're expecting their first child), he hasn't always been in the limelight. McCarron and his family aren't shy about owning up to the poverty they dealt with directly when he was a kid. It's clear he still uses those experiences to frame his identity today. Earlier this summer, McCarron teamed with a group in Mobile to give a homeless man there a "makeover." He and the group bought the man shoes, clothes and meals, and were looking for employment for him.