Bengals Bytes (9/9): Playing days

Hard Knocks Revisited
A former sports reporter looks back at Bengals training camps of yore.

Mike Brown's Forgotten Playing Days
Mike Brown studies the quarterback. Mike Brown studies the quarterback. The Bengals owner is sitting in his corner office at Paul Brown Stadium on a sunny offseason morning. Outside, the Ohio River glints and glitters through his floor-to-ceiling windows; inside, Brown has agreed to review some old game film of a 1950s college matchup. In black-and-white footage, a slender quarterback takes the snap and fakes the handoff, first to his right halfback, then to his left, before spinning away, planting his feet, and heaving the ball 40 yards for a key first down. The footwork and throw are perfect, and there’s plenty for Brown to praise. But he declines to say much of anything, because the quarterback is Mike Brown himself.

Bengals call on Superbubz to Break Huddle after Friday’s Practice
As Bengals players and coaches clapped and cheered for him, Superbubz headed to the middle of the huddle and called out “One, two, three. Win!” Superbubz has inspired the Greater Cincinnati community with his battle against cancer. He was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in September 2015.

Bengals mix and match on defense
One of the many reasons the Bengals love red-shirt rookie cornerback William Jackson and believe he’ll be an elite cover man is that for a first-rounder he doesn’t mind playing with a chip on his shoulder. In fact, he has yet to take a snap and it sounds like he already has one when he makes it Sunday (1 p.m.-CinJackso cinnati’s Channel 12) against the Ravens. Told this week he had a good training camp after missing almost all of that and everything else as a rookie last year with a torn pectoral muscle, Jackson shrugged.

PBS site of Summit of Suave with Curtis, Green in the house
The gathering of legends to kick off the Bengals 50th season Sunday (1 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Channel 12) at Paul Brown Stadium guarantees that there’ll be a summit of suave with two of the Bengals’ smoothest playmakers ever in the building. A.J. Green has never met Isaac Curtis, his Astroturf ancestor, and that may finally happen. “It would be great. I hope so,” Curtis said Friday, just in from California late Thursday. “I’d like to meet him. I’ve heard a lot about him,” Green said before a practice this week.

Top 50 Moments: Paul Brown Carried Off Field as Bengals Advance to Playoffs
Not even Paul Brown thought this day would be here so quickly. Not just two years after that awful first preseason game at Nippert Stadium, when the Bengals never even ran a play in the first quarter against the Chiefs. But here it is, Dec. 20, 1970, and his players are carrying Brown off the field with the brand new Riverfront Stadium scoreboard flashing, "Baltimore Here We Come," as some of the 60,157 spill on to the turf around them.

Who's Playing, Who's Not at Cincinnati Bengals
Baltimore will have nearly its entire 53-man roster available for the regular-season opener in Cincinnati. The only player the Ravens have ruled out is undrafted rookie cornerback Jaylen Hill(thigh), who missed the entire week of practice. Reserve corner Sheldon Price is doubtful to play because of a concussion.

Cincinnati Bengals NFL Violence Against Women
Despite all the controversy surrounding Joe Mixon and his assault of Amelia Molitor at the University of Oklahoma in 2014, the Bengals drafted the star running back in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft. Club owner and president Mike Brown published a letter in The Enquirer defending his selection.

6-year-old battling cancer meets the Bengals
Walter "Superbubz" Herbert, 6, was donning a cap and gown in a "graduation" ceremony Friday night, just hours after he took to the field with the Bengals. Superbubz has been receiving the rock star treatment as he fights neuroblastoma, a type of pediatric cancer.

AFC North Bytes

Lawrence Timmons visits former Steelers teammates
Former Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons, who signed as a free agent with Miami in March, attended practice Friday and got a good reception from his former coaches and teammates. Timmons evacuated Miami with Hurricane Irma set to touch down there this weekend. The weakened from a Category 5 to a still-fearsome Category 4 on Friday morning with winds of 155 mph.

Duke Johnson's mind is on his mom in Miami as Hurricane Irma nears: Browns notebook
Duke Johnson is preparing for the Browns season opener on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium against Pittsburgh. His mind may be elsewhere, though, as Hurricane Irma barrels towards Florida and his native Miami. “That's most important to me, my family and all the families that's down in Florida and what's going on,” Johnson said on Friday. “I should have more information before the game and that's what I'm hoping, I'll know more then.”

Joe Flacco's back injury makes him even more of a wild card for opener
The prevailing sentiment among Baltimore Ravens players is no one would know that quarterback Joe Flacco missed the entire preseason because of a back injury by watching him in this week's practices. "We expect Joe Flacco to be Joe Flacco," linebacker Terrell Suggs said.

Random Bytes

Beth Mowins in an Exclusive Interview on Her NFL Broadcast Experience
CLEVELAND — Beth Mowins knows there will be viewers who think her Monday Night Football game-calling assignment on September 11 is a stunt or political correctness run amok from ESPN. But she has no interest in exerting any energy over those who do not believe she should be calling an NFL game.

Ezekiel Elliott Granted Temporary Restraining Order Against 6-Game Suspension
Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott had his request for a temporary restraining order against a pending six-game NFL suspension granted Friday by United States district judge Amos L. Mazzant III in Texas. The MMQB's Albert Breer first reported the news, and ESPN's Josina Anderson provided a copy of the judge's opinion

Eric Berry Injury Suffered vs. Patriots Diagnosed as Ruptured Achilles
The Kansas City Chiefs suffered a huge loss during Thursday's season-opening win against the New England Patriots when safety Eric Berry injured his Achilles in the fourth quarter. Per Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid announced Friday that Berry ruptured his Achilles.