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February 2010
Bengals to play in Hall of Fame Game
This just in from Bengals media relations:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE; WED., FEB. 24, 2010
FROM CINCINNATI BENGALS PUBLIC RELATIONS
BENGALS WILL FACE COWBOYS
IN HALL OF FAME GAME ON AUG. 8
The Bengals have been selected along with the Dallas Cowboys as the teams for the 2010 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game. The game will kick off the 2010 NFL preseason at 8 p.m. on Sun., Aug. 8 from Fawcett Stadium in Canton, Ohio, with national television coverage on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.
For the first time in 28 years, the game will pit two defending NFL division champions. The Bengals won the AFC North last season with a 10-6 record, and Dallas won the NFC East at 11-5. The last time two defending division champs played in the game was 1981, when defending AFC Central champion Cleveland played defending NFC West champ Atlanta.
The game will also mark the Bengals’ first-ever preseason meeting against Dallas.
“We’re excited to get an early start on the 2010 season against a fellow playoff team from last season,” said Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis. “It’s a showcase our fans will enjoy, and we’re proud to be a part of the Hall of Fame weekend, honoring some of the league’s greatest players. And any time we think of the Hall of Fame, we think of the fact that our franchise was founded by Paul Brown, one of the greatest Hall of Famers ever.”
Playing in the Hall of Fame game means that the Bengals and Cowboys will each play five preseason games in 2010. The preseason opens the following week for the other 30 teams. The remainder of the preseason schedule is yet to be announced.
The Bengals have played twice previously in the Hall of Fame Game, and in both instances it was the start to what proved to be a successful season. In 1988, Cincinnati opened in Canton with a 14-7 win over the Los Angeles Rams and went on to reach the Super Bowl. The Bengals made their first Hall of Fame Game appearance in 1975, and though they lost 17-9 to Washington, they finished the regular season with an 11-3 record and the AFC Central Division championship. Cincinnati’s .786 winning percentage in 1975 still stands as the highest in franchise history.
The Hall of Fame Game will follow an induction of the Hall’s Class of 2010 on Saturday, August 7. The 2010 Hall of Fame Class includes Russ Grimm, Rickey Jackson, Dick LeBeau, Floyd Little, John Randle, Emmitt Smith and Jerry Rice.
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Want to be a Bengals’ cheerleader?
The Ben-Gals cheerleading squad, official cheerleaders of the Cincinnati Bengals, is accepting applications for tryouts for the 2010 season.
The tryouts begin with a series of prep classes on “How to be an NFL Cheerleader,” starting March 20. The process will conclude on May 16, with a final tryout open to the public at The Syndicate in Newport, Ky.
Applicants should be ladies in Greater Cincinnati who love to dance and want to be a part of a full NFL cheerleading program. Candidates must be 21 years old by Sept 1, 2010, must be able to practice up to three times a week, attend all home games and be active in the BenGals’ support of community events.
Potential applicants can get more information by linking to “cheerleader auditions” on www.bengals.com, or by calling BenGals coordinator Charlotte Jacobs at 513-236-1643.
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Bengals hire two new coaches
Disclaimer: This is straight from the Bengals’ PR office, folks. I want to know what an “offensive quality control coach” does too, so stay tuned ….
The Bengals have made two additions to the coaching staff, hiring Kyle Caskey as offensive quality control coach and Jeff Friday as assistant strength and conditioning coach.
Caskey comes to Cincinnati from the University of Mississippi, where he served in 2009 as a defensive assistant working with safeties and quality control. In addition to his on-field work, he handled all opponent offensive breakdowns and scouting report materials.
Caskey entered college coaching in 2004 at Louisiana-Monroe as a graduate assistant, and from 2006-08, he was at Indiana State. In 2008, he coached tight ends and running backs while also serving as recruiting coordinator. He played tight end at Texas A&M in 1997-98 and was a four-year letterman in track and field from 1998-2002, including 2000 All-Big XII honors in the discus. His hometown is Daingerfield, Texas.
Friday was head strength and conditioning coach for the Baltimore Ravens from 1999-2007, including an NFL Championship season in 2000. He left Baltimore in conjunction with Brian Billick’s 2007 release as head coach. He started his own strength training business in 2008, and for 2009 he was a consultant to the United Football League, supervising the league’s strength and conditioning programs and assisting in the hiring of team coaches.
Chip Morton, Bengals head strength and conditioning coach since 2003, worked in Baltimore as an assistant under Friday from 1999-2001. Marvin Lewis, Bengals head coach, was defensive coordinator in Baltimore during Friday’s first three seasons with the Ravens. Friday earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1989 and a master’s degree from Illinois State in 1992. He is a Milwaukee native.
The complete Bengals coaching staff, as set for 2010, is as follows:
Head coach — Marvin Lewis
Asst. head coach/offensive line — Paul Alexander
Offensive coordinator — Bob Bratkowski
Defensive coordinator — Mike Zimmer
Quarterbacks — Ken Zampese
Running backs — Jim Anderson
Tight ends — Jonathan Hayes
Wide receivers — Mike Sheppard
Offensive quality control — Kyle Caskey
Defensive line — Jay Hayes
Linebackers — Jeff FitzGerald
Defensive backs — Kevin Coyle
Asst. defensive backs — Louie Cioffi
Special teams — Darrin Simmons
Asst. special teams/asst. LBs — Paul Guenther
Strength and conditioning — Chip Morton
Asst. strength and conditioning — Jeff Friday
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Bengals sign new kicker, wide receiver
This just in from Bengals media relations:
BENGALS SIGN TWO FREE AGENTS
The Bengals today signed two veteran free agents, WR Matt Jones and K Dave Rayner.
Jones (6-6, 218; Arkansas) played four seasons (2005-08) for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He did not play in the NFL in 2009 and is classified as a fifth-year player.
He was a first-round draft pick (18th overall) by Jacksonville in 2005. In his four seasons with the Jaguars, he played in 54 games with 15 starts and caught 166 passes for 2153 yards (13.0 avg.) and 15 touchdowns. He also played in three postseason games, with nine catches for 142 yards and one TD.
Jones’ most productive season was 2008, when he led the team in receptions (65) and receiving yards (761) despite playing in only 12 games. He was suspended for the last three games of 2008 for a violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy, and he was released by Jacksonville on March 16, 2009.
Rayner (6-2, 210; Michigan State) is a fourth-year NFL player. He has 43 games of NFL experience, most recently during a two-game stint with the Bengals in 2008, when he was signed while K Shayne Graham was rehabbing from a groin injury.
Rayner also has played with Indianapolis in 2005, with Green Bay in 2006 and with both Kansas City and San Diego in 2007. He has made 42 of 59 field goal attempts (71.2 percent), with a long of 54 yards, and he is 48-of-49 on PATs. He has 16 touchbacks on 47 career kickoffs. Playing in Games 6-7 in 2008 for the Bengals, he made his only FG attempt (26 yards) and was three-for-three on PATs.
Rayner was with Washington in the 2009 preseason, going one-for-one on FGs and six-for-six on PATs. He was waived by the Redskins on Sept. 6, with an injury settlement, and did not play in the 2009 regular season.
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Stallworth won’t be a Bengal; Matt Jones to play tight end?
You can scratch former Cleveland Brown Donte Stallworth off your wish list - or maybe it was your “please don’t sign THAT guy” list.
Stallworth is going to be a Baltimore Raven, according to a report on ESPN.com.
Stallworth, 28, was reinstated Feb. 7 by the NFL after sitting out a year and spending 24 days in prison. He was suspended by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for killing a 59-year-old pedestrian in Florida while driving drunk.
Matt Jones to play tight end?
The Bengals plan to use their newest addition — wide receiver Matt Jones — not as a wideout, but as a tight end, according to in-house NFL guru Carlos “Big C” Holmes.
Sources tell Big C that the Bengals like Jones’ size (6-6, 220), even though he comes in about 30 pounds lighter than your average tight end. Former Bengal tight end Ben Utecht was considered a pass-catching tight end and appeared small despite his 6-6, 245-pound frame.
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Report: Bengals sign Matt Jones, looking at Pacman
ESPN is reporting that the Cincinnati Bengals have signed former Jacksonville wide receiver Matt Jones.
Jones is a former first-round pick who sat out 2009 after being released by the Jaguars in March 2009 following his second arrest for violating a plea agreement that followed a drug charge from 2008, according to Dan Parzych of the Cincinnati Bengals Examiner.
If he can keep his nose clean, Jones could give the Cincinnati passing game a boost. He had 65 receptions for 761 yards and two touchdowns in 2008.
The Bengals are reportedly also looking at another troubled Jones.
Cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones worked out for the Bengals recently, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.
Jones was released by the Cowboys in February 2009.
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Esiason to Bengals: Get rid of Ochocinco
Former Bengal great Boomer Esiason isn’t buying what Chad Ochocinco is selling.
I happened to briefly tune-in to the Pro Bowl on radio Sunday night just as Esiason was talking about the Bengals and Ochocinco.
Boomer said that he’s “not a fan of Ochocinco” and that Chad is all about Chad — not the team. He went on to say how he believes Chad’s antics leading up to games each week — like trash-talking defensive backs — get other teams focused because they don’t want to be shown up.
He said the Bengals should part ways with Ochocinco now, but pointed out that head coach Marvin Lewis probably doesn’t have the authority to cut or even properly discipline Chad because of heavy handed owner Mike Brown.
Boomer talked about how teams like the Cowboys and Eagles got better after they got rid of a wide receiver with a similar personality, Terrell Owens.
I’m not sure if I agree with Boomer on this, but I have always valued and respected his opinion. He had a weekly radio show on 700 WLW for years that I listened to religiously.
Boomer always defended the Bengals and came across as someone who truly wants what’s best for the club and its fans. That makes me wonder how much of an asset or liability the Ocho really is.
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Social media connects Ochocinco to dying local fan
Chris Kernich’s coma and death resulting from a November beating in Kent gripped many area readers.
The former Fairborn High School wide receiver was a well-liked classmate and, it turns out, a huge fan of Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco.
As ESPN.com reporter Amy K. Nelson writes in her recent story about the struggle to connect Kernich and Ochocinco in his final days, it was social media, mainly Twitter, that allowed Ochocinco to eventually make contact with Kernich’s family.
As Nelson writes:
Technology has allowed social-networking sites to change the dynamic between player and fan. In particular, the emergence of smart phones has brought fans and athletes even closer. But there are no guarantees with this evolving mode of communication, either. Ochocinco, who has more than 700,000 people following him on Twitter, can be besieged with hundreds of messages in a matter of minutes, so there is no guarantee he will see a specific message; it could be wedged in the pile — just like that piece of snail mail.
During his time in the hospital, Kernich received support from many in the athletic world, as DDN reporter Margo Rutledge Kissell reported the day after his death:
Hearing that Kernich was a huge Buckeye fan, Ohio State University football coach Jim Tressel called his hospital room Friday and they put the phone to his ear, according to Kelley Kunkle-Grody, a Fairborn parent who has known Kernich’s parents, John and Sherry, for 30 years.
Cincinnati Bengals star receiver Chad Ochocinco called Kernich’s room Saturday night, unaware that Kernich had died, and spoke to his mother, she said.
It was Ochocinco’s call that likely meant the most to family, as the receiver was by far Kernich’s favorite player.
And, with the existence of social media, they were able to reach him.
