CINCINNATI BENGALS One Paul Brown Stadium Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 (513) 621-3550 administrative offices (513) 621-3570 administrative fax (513) 621-TDTD (8383) ticket office www.bengals.com WEEKLY NEWS RELEASE AUG. 6, 2018 PRESEASON GAME 1 CHICAGO BEARS (0-1) THURSDAY, AUG. 9 AT PAUL BROWN STADIUM AT NEXT WEEK: PRESEASON GAME 2 CINCINNATI BENGALS (0-0) AUG. 18 AT DALLAS GAME NOTES Kickoff: 7 p.m. Eastern. American last season for the Buckeyes and won the Rimington Trophy as college football’s top center. Television: Live coverage on the Bengals Preseason Network with Price, however, was just the first of 11 Bengals draft picks. All but one — Mike Watts (play-by-play), Anthony Munoz (analyst) and Mike Valpredo (sideline G Rod Taylor, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in practice — figure to reporter). The network is led by flagship WKRC-TV (CBS Channel 12) in see the field on Thursday. S Jessie Bates (second round), DE Sam Hubbard Cincinnati. Also on the network are WKEF-TV (ABC Ch. 22) in Dayton, WSYX- (third round) and LB Malik Jefferson (third round) are among the other picks who TV (ABC Ch. 6) in Columbus, WLIO-TV (FOX Ch. 8.2) in Lima, WDKY-TV FOX are expected to make their pro debut against the Bears. Bengals fans should Ch. 56) in Lexington, Ky. and WDRB-TV (FOX Ch. 41) in Louisville, Ky. have particular interest in seeing Hubbard, who is a Cincinnati native and former star at both Archbishop Moeller High School and Ohio State University. Radio: Coverage on the Bengals Radio Network, led by Cincinnati But perhaps the most anticipated 2018 debut will be that of WR John Ross, flagship stations WCKY-AM (ESPN 1530; all sports), WLW-AM (700) and the Bengals’ 2017 first-round draft pick. After injuries limited his participation as a WEBN-FM (102.7). Broadcasters are Dan Hoard (play-by-play) and Dave rookie last season, Ross is healthy and has been a full participant since the start Lapham (analyst). Wayne Box Miller hosts the pregame and postgame shows. of training camp. At the 2017 NFL Combine, he ran a blistering 4.22-second 40- yard dash, believed to be the fastest in the history of the Combine’s marquee Setting the scene: The Cincinnati Bengals make their 2018 debut event. That speed has been on full display during the Bengals’ practices, where on Thursday against the Chicago Bears at Paul Brown Stadium. It will be the first his highlight-reel plays have made him the talk of camp. opportunity for fans to watch the new-look team perform in game after it conducted a large number of substantive offseason changes. The series: Though they are relatively close geographical neighbors, The last two Bengals seasons ended well below standards previously set by the Bengals and Bears have played infrequently, with Cincinnati holding a 6-5 head coach Marvin Lewis, with both the 2016 and ’17 squads falling short of the regular-season series lead. playoffs. Those setbacks came after Lewis led the team to a string of five straight The Bengals and Bears have split their last four regular-season meetings, playoff appearances from 2011-15, something only three other teams although the Bears have won the last two, including a 33-7 win at Paul Brown accomplished over that span. Stadium in 2017. Home-field advantage has not been a factor in the series — the Lewis, who is in his 16th season as head coach, began revamping his squad Bengals lead 4-2 at Chicago and have a 2-3 record as the home team. as soon as the 2017 season concluded. In January, the Bengals hired defensive In preseason, the Bengals and Bears have played nine times, with Cincinnati coordinator Teryl Austin — an aggressive, turnover-minded coach who spent the holding a 6-3 advantage. The teams last played in preseason in 2015 at Paul last four seasons as defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions. On offense, Brown Stadium, with the Bengals winning 21-10. The Bengals are 3-0 in Lewis and his staff spent much of the offseason overhauling their offensive preseason at home against the Bears, including a 24-20 victory on Aug. 19, 2000 system and philosophy. Offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, who was elevated to — the first Bengals preseason game at Paul Brown Stadium. coordinator in September last year, will call plays from a new system that is expected to feature a more emphasized rushing attack with increased importance placed on stretching the field through the air. BENGALS-BEARS 2017 NFL RANKINGS “There are things that Teryl did the last few seasons in Detroit that are very BENGALS BEARS compatible with what we do,” Lewis said. “He can shape (our defense) now with SCORING (AVERAGE POINTS): his hands, and with the rest of the coaches. On offense, we have to be better, no Points scored................................................ 26th (18.1) 29th (16.5) doubt about it. We have to get back to being a vertical-threat team. But we have Points allowed .............................................. 18th (21.8) 9th (20.0) to start the football season being able to run the football, and that’s got to be NET OFFENSE (AVERAGE YARDS): more consistent.” Total .......................................................... 32nd (280.5) 30th (287.4) In all, the Bengals added six new assistant coaches, the most year-to-year Rushing ......................................................... 31st (85.4) 16th (111.8) turnover for a staff in Lewis’ 16 years in Cincinnati. Perhaps the most noteworthy Passing ....................................................... 27th (195.1) 32nd (175.7) of those additions, however, is offensive line coach Frank Pollack, who spent the NET DEFENSE (AVERAGE YARDS): last five seasons coaching the offensive line at Dallas. With the Cowboys, he Total ........................................................... 18th (339.1) 10th (319.1) developed a line which is was considered one of the most successful units in the Rushing ...................................................... 30th (127.9) 11th (108.1) NFL. That line featured three All-Pro performers (OT Tyron Smith, G Zack Martin Passing ......................................................... 8th (211.2) 7th (211.0) and C Travis Frederick) and twice helped produce the league’s leading rusher TURNOVERS: (DeMarco Murray in 2014, and Ezekiel Elliott in ’16). Differential ...............................................27th (minus-9) 15th (even) The offensive line has been central to Cincinnati’s offseason overhaul. All eyes on Thursday will be on Pollack’s new group, particularly two new, key Bengals-Bears connections: Bengals WR Ka’Raun White and additions. In March, the Bengals traded for OT Cordy Glenn, who spent all six of Bears WR Kevin White are brothers ... Bengals S Clayton Fejedelem is from his previous NFL seasons with Buffalo. At 6-6, 345 pounds, Glenn is a large Lemont, Illinois (Lemont High School), and played collegiately at both St. Xavier presence at left tackle and looks to bring stability and veteran presence to what University (2011-12) and the University of Illinois (‘14-15) ... Bears P Pat is perhaps the most critical position. Then, in April, the Bengals used their first- O’Donnell played at the University of Cincinnati from 2009-12 ... Bengals QB round draft pick (No. 21 overall) on C Billy Price of Ohio State. Noted for his Matt Barkley was with the Bears in 2016 ... Bengals WR Kermit Whitfield entered strength, intelligence and leadership, Price was a unanimous first-team All- the NFL as a college free agent signee of Chicago in 2017 ... Bengals DT Ryan — 1 — (Bengals-Bears connections, continued) BENGALS 2017 RED-ZONE REPORT OFFENSE DEFENSE Glasgow is from Aurora, Illinois (Marmion Academy) ... Bengals CB Davontae Harris played at Illinois State University ... Bengals LB Hardy Nickerson played at Inside-20 possessions: 43 Inside-20 possessions: 56 the University of Illinois ... Bears DB Doran Grant played at Ohio State University Total scores: 37 (86.0%) Total scores: 52 (92.9%) ... Bears WR Garrett Johnson and LB Danny Trevathan played at the University TDs: 24 (55.8%) TDs: 26 (46.4%) of Kentucky ... Bears WR Joshua Bellamy played at the University of Louisville ... FGs: 13 (30.2%) FGs: 26 (46.4%) Bears TE Adam Shaheen is from Galena, Ohio ... Bengals assistant strength and TD% rank: 12th TD% rank: 6th conditioning coach Jeff Friday coached at Illinois State University from 1990-91 No scores: 6 (14.0%) No scores: 4 (7.1%) and Northwestern University from ’92-95 ... Bears head coach Matt Nagy played BEARS 2017 RED-ZONE REPORT for the Columbus Destroyers of the Arena Football League from 2007-08 ... Bears wide receivers coach Mike Furrey played at Ohio State in 1995 and OFFENSE DEFENSE coached at Kentucky Christian University from 2011-12 ... Bears offensive line Inside-20 possessions: 33 Inside-20 possessions: 49 coach Harry Hiestand coached at the University of Toledo from 1988-89 and the Total scores: 27 (81.8%) Total scores: 42 (85.7%) University of Cincinnati from 1989-93 ... Bears QBs coach Dave Ragone played TDs: 20 (60.6%) TDs: 24 (49.0%) for the University of Louisville from 1999-2002 ... Bears outside linebackers FGs: 7 (21.2%) FGs: 18 (36.7%) coach Brandon Staley played at the University of Dayton from 2003-04 ... Bears TD% rank: 4th TD% rank: 12th offensive assistant Shane Toub played at the University of Dayton from 2013-16. No scores: 6 (18.2%) No scores: 7 (14.3%) THE HEAD COACHES Marvin Lewis in 2018 extends his Bengals-record head coaching Pittsburgh Steelers. He aided the development of four Pro Bowl players — Kevin tenure to 16 seasons, twice that of Paul Brown (1968-75) and Sam Wyche (’84- Greene, Chad Brown, Levon Kirkland and Greg Lloyd. Greene has since been 91), who are tied for second with eight seasons each.