Bengals' McCarron wishes fans would back Dalton

The person who would benefit most from an Andy Dalton benching doesn't want to see it happen.

Cincinnati Bengals backup quarterback AJ McCarron spoke to Geoff Hobson of the team's official website Monday and showed his support for Dalton.

"I wish people in this city would back him and go with it," McCarron said. "Listen, I think I’m a great quarterback and I think he’s an unbelievable quarterback. I love him to death. But he’s our quarterback. Stop making it into something else. It’s not into something else. Ride with him. Trust the team. Trust the process. And trust what we are trying to do. And be a fan of who is playing. We are all part of a team. It’s not we are divided."

Dalton and the Bengals offense has struggled mightily in two home games this year, failing to score a touchdown. The subpar start cost Cincinnati offensive coordinator Ken Zampese his job.

Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis noted Dalton will remain the starter and McCarron insists he isn't in competition with his teammate.

"It’s not that way," McCarron said. "It’s tough for me, it really is. I love him I love our relationship. Been with him for a long time now. It sucks for me to see. For other people if we didn’t have such a close relationship things like that can make the process weird between quarterbacks on other teams if that starts happening. Me and him have a great relationship and I think we’ve both handled it really well. We know what nonsense is. We trust and love each other. He’s our quarterback and I’ll leave it at that. I trust him every time he steps out there and I think we are going to win every time he is under center. It’s part of football, though, you win some lose some. That’s the way it goes."