Bengals open preseason vs. Redskins

By Mark Curnutte
Enquirer staff writer

ORLANDO, Fla. – The Bengals will open the preseason with a national televised game Aug. 13 – a Sunday afternoon – at home against Washington.

The game will be broadcast live on NBC, a slot worth about an extra $500,000 for the Bengals.
They will have a second national TV game in the preseason, Monday night, Aug. 28, against Green Bay. It will be shown on ESPN. It will be worth another half million dollars for the Bengals.

"It helps, especially being a small-market team," Bengals vice president Tory Blackburn said this morning during the league meeting.

"It’s exciting for our fans because we don’t get to see NFC teams at home very often."

The second and fourth preseason weekends will feature Bengals' road games at Buffalo and Indianapolis.

"It's good for us. It’s been about 15 years since we had one," Bengals president Mike Brown said of the national preseason games.

The regular season schedule will be announced toward the end of the first week in April. The Bengals are being rumored as opening the season Sept. 10 at Kansas City.

"We know how tough it is to play there," Brown said of Arrowhead Stadium. "We didn't do too well the last time we were there."

The Bengals lost 37-3 there Jan. 1 in the regular season finale. Starters were limited in playing time because the Bengals had already clinched a home playoff game.

Owners will vote this morning and early this afternoon on proposed rules changes. Expected to pass are rules that will penalize low hits on quarterbacks, allow wide receivers to re-set to reduce the record number of false start penalties (852 in 2005), and limit end-zone celebrations by preventing players from using the ball as a prop or celebrating on the ground.

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com