While Cincinnati has never kicked off a preseason against the New Orleans, the Bengals have played the Saints seven times. The Bengals have lost six of those games (an active losing streak), last beating the Saints on in 1975 in a 20-0 shutout.

You might remember the last time the two teams met. A bloody nose was made famous. When I reviewed that game a second time, I noted that while a lot of the failure was protection, it was in large part a combination of offensive schemes (sending five receivers into routes) and good defensive strategy on New Orleans part overloading one side for a heavy blitz. The third preseason game, which is when last year's match-up took place, is typically the dress rehearsal; first team plays the first half and sometimes deep into the third quarter. During last year's dress rehearsal against New Orleans, the Bengals started the game punting ten consecutive times before Jordan Palmer threw a pick to the end the game in a shutout (0-13). Talk about preseason forecasting the regular season.

Several players will be out tonight; which includes Dan Santucci, Ben Utecht, David Jones, Brandon Johnson, Evan Mathis, Antonio Chatman and Pernell Phillips. Rey Maualuga was deemed questionable earlier in the week.

Carson Palmer is expected to take between 12-15 snaps. All running backs on the team will get a chance to play Friday. Most likely Benson will get a few snaps to start, then the team will rotate the rest to get a good look. All spots on the roster -- such as backup running back, third down back -- are up in the air, says head coach Marvin Lewis.

As for Cincy Jungle, an open thread will appear about 15-30 minutes before kickoff. I won't be around at the start, but should file in somewhere in the first quarter.