Bengals Bytes (1/20): Ready to go

Questions on future of Cincinnati Bengals-Pittsburgh Steelers rivalry
The Steelers and Bengals played three tense, penalty-filled games in 2015. Will officials and players take a novel approach to next season's contest? Both teams earned playoff berths, but the Steelers had the better postseason, beating the Bengals in the wild-card round before losing in the divisional at Denver. Neither team accomplished its goal of winning the Super Bowl.

Cincinnati Bengals' A.J. Green was second to Pittsburgh Steelers' Anto
With the offseason now here for the Cincinnati Bengals, we're taking a daily look at a few statistics that either defined the past season, or went overlooked during it. Today, we highlight the following number: 227

Cincinnati Bengals: Top 5 Free Agents to Target
The Cincinnati Bengals have 15 free agents set to hit the free market in 2016 and it is unrealistic to think they will make every deal. The Bengals will need to look at least into the free agent market to decide whether or not to make a play for certain players who may try to price themselves outside of the Bengals price range. Here are my top five free agents to consider going into the 2016 free agent period, which starts officially March 15th at 4PM EST.

Cincinnati Bengals say Hue Jackson's offense still part of foundation
Versatile, unique, creative, dynamic, aggressive -- each of those words describes Hue Jackson's Cincinnati Bengals offense the past two seasons. But now that their former offensive coordinator has left for the Cleveland Browns' head-coaching job, the Bengals will have to prove that their scheme under first-year coordinator Ken Zampese can be each of those things and more.

Cincinnati Bengals: 2015 Draft Class Recap
After another AFC North title and unfortunate first round playoff loss, the Cincinnati Bengals will now look to the future. With the threat of losing a lot of talent to free agency, the Bengals may have to deal with those decisions by giving some of their younger talent an opportunity to fill the shoes of those lost. That may even include some of the group from this last draft class.

Cincinnati Bengals: Top 10 Games of 2015 Season
The Bengals have quietly become one of the NFL’s stable and consistent franchises over the course of the past five years. Notoriously one of the NFL’s most poorly-managed franchises, the Cincinnati Bengals are no longer anything close to resemblant of the franchise once dubbed "the Bungles."

Random Bytes

Inside the Pylon's 2016 NFL Mock Draft: Pre-Senior Bowl Edition - Inside The Pylon
A great majority of the time, if a team doesn’t have a "franchise" quarterback, they don’t have much of a chance at competing for a Super Bowl. First-round QBs aren’t a sure thing: for every Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck, there’s a Ryan Leaf and Tim Couch. But teams have to reach and try to find "their guy." Teams will talk themselves into a QB, even at the expense of other positions, and you can’t really blame them; it’s just that important.

Jets G.M. says the team can "definitely" win with Ryan Fitzpatrick
The Jets like Ryan Fitzpatrick and Ryan Fitzpatrick likes the Jets, so it makes sense that those two crazy kids should stick together. But beyond the simple draw of a 10-win season and inertia, there’s also a sense that the free agent-t0-be quarterback can push the team beyond this year’s level.

Magic Johnson first to put deposit down on Los Angeles Rams tickets
According to their relocation agreement with the NFL, the Los Angeles Rams can't begin selling tickets or suites to the new Inglewood stadium scheduled to open in 2019 until they know if they'll share their palatial new digs with another team.

Chargers apply for trademark for "Los Angeles Chargers"
Even if they’re not talking about the meetings, the Chargers are having meetings about moving to Los Angeles. And that’s not the only thing they’re doing to prepare for a possible departure.

Chris Johnson says he’s ready to play right now
When the Cardinals placed running back Chris Johnson on injured reserve with the designation to return on December 1, it meant that Johnson would be ineligible to play in any games this season other than the Super Bowl.

Antwaan Randle El Comments on NFL's Impact on His Life, Choice to Play Football
Former NFL wide receiver Antwaan Randle El, who last played with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2010, does not have fond memories of his playing days with the benefit of hindsight.