AJ McCarron's wait is over as NFL debut looms

The last football AJ McCarron let fly in the heat of competition, with bodies flying around him, a stadium at capacity shaking, was just under 600 days ago in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the Superdome.

It was a 61-yard touchdown to Derrick Henry with 6 minutes, 22 seconds left in the Sugar Bowl, a screen pass that the tailback took to the house to draw the University of Alabama within one score of the University of Oklahoma, 38-31, but the Sooners would pull away, 45-31.

"I'm excited, for sure," McCarron said. "I'm just ready to get out and start playing again."

Now, as he readies to do that at Raymond James Stadium Monday night in Tampa Bay, the confidence may still be there, but there is an unknown factor. He has yet to suit up and play a single snap of professional football in a game situation.

"I know there's going to be ups and downs just because I haven't played a football game since 2014," he said. "You just have to stay through it, never get too high, never get too low, find a happy medium. The biggest thing is I want to get us in the right situation as much as possible. Try to slow the game down as much as possible also."

McCarron looked on track to get significant reps after starter Andy Dalton in the Bengals' first preseason game, but McCarron suffered an undisclosed upper body injury that kept him out for most of practice two weeks ago.

Now, back at his usual spot in the practice rotation, he felt he recaptured some of the rhythm he was showing prior to his injury.

"We had a really good day throwing the ball around," he said of Friday's practice, which was closed to the media. "We had a really good two-minute session at the end. I feel we're doing good. Good communication. We completed a pretty good bit of balls, so I was happy."

And he's not the only one looking forward to his first action in a Bengals uniform.

"What you like about him is he seems to thrive off of confidence and things going well and making a play, and it comes to life," said head coach Marvin Lewis. "He's a good leader in the huddle. He really brings the best out of people, which is great."

Lewis did not define how much Dalton or McCarron would play Monday night, but did allow it would be highly unlikely that his starter ever saw the third quarter.

For McCarron, it's the next step in a long process back to the field.

"I don't wonder – I know what I can do, I know what I'm capable of," he said. "I think my teammates and my coaching staff know what I'm capable of, showing all the stuff I've done, whether it's in our scrimmage or just in practice every day. From the time I've been here I feel like I've progressed a bunch since last year. I know hat I'm capable of, and I'm just excited to get out there and show my teammates and everybody else what I can do."