Bengals Bytes (9/7): New life

Bengals All-50th Team Banners Unveiled at Ravens Game
Banners featuring the Bengals All-50th Team will be unveiled at the Ravens game on Sunday (1 p.m.). Two Super Bowl head coaches and 26 retired players were named to the Bengals All-50th Team. The banners are located throughout the east and west sideline concourses in Paul Brown Stadium. Super Bowl XVI head coach Forrest Gregg and Super Bowl XXIII head coach Sam Wyche are featured on the center banner on the west sideline concourse, surrounded by defensive members of the Bengals All-50th Team.

Matchup of the Game: special unveiling
It’s more symbolic than anything. Evans, the ultra-talented sixth-round nugget, represents the speed and youth the Bengals unveil in Sunday’s opener (1 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Channel 12) with potentially about nine players taking their first NFL snap on special teams at Paul Brown Stadium. Koch is the savvy 12-year innovator that mirrors the success Baltimore has had on special teams in the last decade as the Ravens also go through some growing pains to surround their Pro Bowl kickers.

Dalton, Lewis news conference transcripts 9/6
They’ve been playing well. They’re playing with a lot of confidence. When their first unit was in, they played really well this preseason. We’ve got to prepare for what they’re doing. It’s always a tough game when we play them. It always feels like it’s coming down to the end. Both teams are preparing for the season the right way, and for us, we’re going to do what we can to win this one.

Slants and screens: Boling emerging with '11 leaders; Green openers; Iloka caps; Packers DT claimed
It’s been a long time coming for the Class of 2011. Sunday (1 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Channel 12) marks the first home opener for the draft class that gave you wide receiver A.J. Green first with the fourth pick and then quarterback Andy Dalton with the 35th. So it’s fitting that when head coach Marvin Lewis sends out his youngest team since Green and Dalton were rookies, it’s believed they’ll be the offensive captains when they line up opposite the Ravens.

Ravens vs. Bengals: 5 questions with Stripe Hype
If you’re like me, you are ecstatic that NFL football is back. After months of sitting through free agency, the NFL Draft, training camp and the preseason, Week one finally kicks off tonight. But for the Baltimore Ravens, they don’t play until Sunday. Their first game is a division matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Cincinnati Bengals injury report for Week 1 Ravens game
Cincinnati Bengals rookie first-round pick John Ross did not practice Wednesday due to the left knee injury he suffered in Thursday’s preseason game at Indianapolis. The wide receiver missed the first two preseason games while recovering from offseason labrum surgery before leaving early in the finale due to what he called a non-contact injury.

Cincinnati Bengals' 50th anniversary: Ten memorable moments
The date was Oct. 20, 1968. I was a 9-year-old in my Sunday school class at First Presbyterian Church in Paris when I was told to meet my father outside. Turns out he had a surprise. A friend had two extra tickets to see the Cincinnati Bengals, the AFL expansion team in its first year of existence, play that afternoon in the Queen City.

Nine types of fans you're bound to run into at a Bengals game
The first full Sunday slate of games in a new NFL season is upon us and Bengals fans will pack Paul Brown Stadium to see the home team take on the division rival Baltimore Ravens. If you’re going to the game you’ll see plenty of enthusiastic fans decked out in their orange and black. Among them you’ll come across some very specific fans.

Sixth-rounder Jordan Evans emerges in Bengals' mix
Jordan Evans couldn’t watch. He didn’t. The wound was too fresh. Every year prior, he’d flip to NFL Network and watch the NFL Combine. Partially out of support for teammates, but also in preparation for the future. “In the past I said, ‘I’m going to be there,’ ” Evans said, pointing at an imaginary television sitting in front of his locker inside Paul Brown Stadium. “I was kind of sad … I wanted it because as a kid it’s a goal, you want to go to the Combine.”

Carl Lawson, Jordan Willis give Cincinnati Bengals' D-line new life
Coach Marvin Lewis said in the offseason that there had to be a "changing of the guard" in some aspects of the Cincinnati Bengals' roster. Nowhere is that more apparent than on the defensive line, where an influx of young talent has given the Bengals the ability to display several new looks this season.

AFC North Bytes

Browns fear Myles Garrett's ankle injury is serious, sources say; will undergo MRI
BEREA, Ohio -- The Browns fear Myles Garrett's right ankle injury is serious, sources tell cleveland.com, and he'll undergo an MRI soon. Garrett, the No. 1 overall pick, suffered the injury during Wednesday's practice and had to leave early. He didn't return. It occurred during the portion of practice closed to the media.

Eric Weddle: Whether offense likes it or not, Ravens will win with D
Eric Weddle was asked what the Baltimore Ravens' offense thinks about the perception that the defense will pave the way for wins. Much like the way he plays safety, Weddle didn't hold back in giving this blunt answer.

Previewing Pittsburgh Steelers' Week 1 Matchup with Browns
After months of anticipation and preparation, the Pittsburgh Steelers open their 2017 season on Sunday with an AFC North battle against storied rivals the Cleveland Browns. The game has a 1:00pm ET kickoff and takes place on the Browns' home turf, FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. The game will be televised locally and in select national markets on CBS.

Random Bytes

Mega NFL Preview - 1-32 projections, fantasy breakouts, over/under picks, bold predictions, QB rankings - 2017
Over/under picks. Bold predictions. NFL execs unfiltered. QB depth chart rankings. Go-to plays. It's all here for every NFL team.

NFL - Predicting all 256 games, final records for the 2017 season
The New England Patriots are a betting favorite in every one of their games heading into the 2017 season. The New York Jets are underdogs all the way through. The disparity illustrates the tendency toward extremes when predicting winners for all 256 NFL games.

Bill Barnwell 2017 NFL preview - A case for all 32 teams to play in Super Bowl LII
This time last year, the Bovada sportsbook listed the Atlanta Falcons and New York Jets with identical odds of winning the Super Bowl. After removing the sportsbook's vig, both the Falcons and Jets were given a 1.2 percent chance of winning Super Bowl LI. By the end of the year, the 5-11 Jets were in disarray and rebuilding, while the 11-5 Falcons came within a poorly timed holding penalty and a circus catch of winning their first Super Bowl.