Preseason Week 3 Primer: Cincinnati Bengals (2-0) at Buffalo Bills (1-1)

The Bengals will be traveling to northwest New York to visit the team they helped send to the playoffs last season in the Buffalo Bills. If it wasn’t for the Bengals Week 17 heroics, the Bills playoff drought would’ve extended to 19 years, and would have remained the longest in the NFL.

This will be a meeting of some familiar faces for both sides. The Bengals traded for left tackle Cordy Glenn and signed linebacker Preston Brown this offseason. Both players were big names on the Bills, and their former teammates should be looking forward to going up against them for the first time.

The Bengals will also see a few former players. After AJ McCarron won his grievance to become a free agent he ended up signing with the Bills. He was hoping it would be his chance to finally helm an NFL franchise, but Buffalo ended up trading up in the draft in order to select Josh Allen.

The rookie quarterback will be starting the game, which gives a pretty strong indication that he will be the starter for Week 1. McCarron is day-to-day after finding out his collar bone injury wasn’t as bad as originally expected.

The Bengals will also get their first chance to see center Russell Bodine in a jersey that doesn’t include stripes. Cincinnati drafted Bodine in 2014 NFL Draft, and ended up starting every single game for the team before departing for Buffalo this offseason.

Here is everything you need to know for when the Bengals take on the Bills:

Game: Cincinnati Bengals (2-0) at Buffalo Bills (1-1)

Date/Time: Aug. 26, 2018 at 4 p.m. EST

Location: New Era Field, Buffalo, NY

Series Leader: Buffalo, 16-15 (regular season and playoffs)

Streak: The Bengals have won four of the last five.

Coaches vs. Opponent: Marvin Lewis: 4-6. Sean McDermott: 0-1

TV Broadcast: The game is a national FOX-TV broadcast. The FOX affiliate in Cincinnati is WXIX-TV (Channel 19). Additional regional FOX affiliates include WGRT-TV (Ch. 45) in Dayton, WTTE-TV (Ch. 28) in Columbus, WLIO-TV (Ch. 8.2) in Lima, WDKY-TV (Ch. 56) in Lexington and WDRB-TV (Ch. 41) in Louisville. Broadcasters are Kevin Burkhardt (play-by-play), Charles Davis (analyst) and Pam Oliver (sideline reporter).

Radio Broadcast: The game will air on the Bengals Radio Network, led by Cincinnati flagship stations WCKY-AM (ESPN 1530; all sports) and WEBN-FM (102.7). Broadcasters are Dan Hoard (play-by-play) and Dave Lapham (analyst).

SB Nation Bills site: Buffalo Rumblings

Weather: Mid 70’s, mostly cloudy [NFL weather]

Odds: Bengals, +1.5 [Odds Shark]

Bengals notes

• Safety Clayton Fejedelem is still the team’s leading rusher after two preason games with 49 yards rushing (49 yards per carry). Tra Carson is next on the list with 48 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.
• Tight end C.J. Uzomah and wide receiver Josh Malone are tied with five catches each. Uzomah leads the team with 62 yards receiving. Runningback Brian Hill was the only player to catch a touchdown against the Cowboys. He is also second on the team in receiving yards with 60.
• Quarterback Jeff Driskel still leads the team in completions (20) and passing yards (259). Andy Dalton leads the team in touchdown passes (two) even though he didn’t throw one against the Cowboys. He also leads the team in completion percentage (73.3).
• Defensive end Jordan Willis had two sacks against the Cowboys, which makes him the leader on the team. The Bengals also failed to record any more interceptions against the Cowboys after having two against the Bears.