Bengals Bytes (1/27): Rebuilding time?

Personal foul: Bengals' Burfict calls Steelers 'his squad' in Madden 16
Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict may hate the Pittsburgh Steelers, but when it comes to video games, he enjoys Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell.

2015 Bengals season in review
The best pictures from the Bengals' 2015 season taken by The Cincinnati Enquirer photographers.

Cincinnati Bengals: Is It Time to Rebuild?
The Bengals have a whopping 15 free agents, and it’s very unlikely that all of them will be signed. What’s more, is there are a lot of starters in free agency – including the entire secondary and #2 and #3 receivers. So, what do the Bengals do? Is this time to rebuild? Of course we’re not blowing up the entire team, but there’s a lot of money at stake with these free agents and the Bengals have an estimated $30 million in cap space. There’s some positions that we need to keep intact, others we keep key pieces, and others it’s time to find a new solution.

Cincinnati Bengals QB Andy Dalton's biggest change was fewer turnovers
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: 3.57 From the time he started playing the quarterback position as a kid in his native Texas, Andy Dalton’s marching orders have been simple: avoid turnovers.

Playmaker seeking Bengals' playmakers in Pro Bowl draft
They call Hall-of-Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin "Playmaker," so he ought to know. He thinks the Bengals’ contingent of seven Pro Bowl players, second most in their history, has at least two playmakers worthy of Canton if they keep doing the things that got them into Sunday’s game (7 p.m.-ESPN) at Honolulu’s Aloha Stadium. And one of them, four-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Geno Atkins, is co-captaining the team Irvin leads into the always embattled game against the team led by Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice. They’ll draft their teams Wednesday (7:30 p.m.-ESPN) with Irvin picking first after he lost Tuesday’s coin flip.

Zampese timing up playbook
Ken Zampese’s father, who called plays for Hall of Fame quarterbacks Dan Fouts and Troy Aikman and helped pump the oxygen into Air Coryell during his 28 years in the NFL, and is two months shy of 80 years old, is about to make another call. Ernie Zampese isn’t rolling the three pens in his left hand or muttering those four-letter words, like when Kenny watched him call plays in the Los Angeles Rams press box 25 years ago. But he’s making another call when asked if he’s got a tip for his son as he starts his first season as the Bengals offensive coordinator.

Peerman, Adam Jones added to Pro Bowl, giving Bengals eight in Sunday's game
Bengals running back/special teams captain Cedric Peerman and cornerback Adam Jones have been named to roster spots for the Pro Bowl, the NFL announced on Tuesday. Their additions raise the Bengals total for the game to eight players, second-most in franchise history behind the nine-player total of the 1988 season.

Random Bytes

NFL conducting "comprehensive" Peyton Manning investigation
In the midst of criticism from those who think that the NFL has applied different standards to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady regarding #DeflateGate and Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning regarding allegations of HGH use, the NFL has disclosed that it is conducting a comprehensive investigation of Manning.

2016 NFL Pro Bowl: Most declined invitation in history
As of Tuesday afternoon, the official number of players either voted to the Pro Bowl or added as an alternate had reached 135. That's the highest number in NFL history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, and well beyond the previous high of 119 set after the 2009 season.

Lombardi grave burial site good luck for Super Bowl fans
Those who have made the pilgrimage before are eager to offer advice on how to get there. Down near the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County, past the grocery stores and fast-food restaurants on State Route 35, is the quiet, two-lane Chapel Hill Road. It runs through Mount Olivet Cemetery, where tucked among the more than 100,000 graves is football’s most famous one.

Peyton told Belichick, "This might be my last rodeo"
As Peyton Manning and Bill Belichick embraced after the AFC Championship Game, Manning acknowledged that it may have been the last time the two of them competed against each other. Although both Manning and Belichick declined to go into specifics about what was said, NFL Network captured the audio of Manning’s half of the conversation.

You Ain't Nothin' But A (Half-Marathon Dominating) Hound Dog
Most people spend months training and preparing for a marathon or half-marathon. But most people aren't Ludivine Hamlin. That's largely because Ludivine isn't a person, but a two-year-old Bloodhound from Elkmont, Alabama, who finished the town's half-marathon in seventh place -- without any prior training. Yes, that's right. A dog not only completed the entire 13.1-mile race, but did so in SEVENTH PLACE.