GREEN BAY PACKERS AT CINCINNATI BENGALS (State TV)

WHEN: 7:00 p.m. EST August 23rd
WHERE: Paul Brown Stadium
TV: Kevin Harlan (play-by-play) and Rich Gannon (analyst), with Trenni Kusnierek on the sidelines.
RADIO: Wayne Larrivee (play-by-play) & Larry McCarren (analyst) for AM-620 and Packer Radio Network
INTERNET: Cheesehead TV Gameday Live Blog

CheeseheadTV's Five Things You Could Watch But Certainly Don't Have To

JSOnline's Game Preview

Green Bay Press Gazette's Five Things To Watch

From the Dope Sheet:

THE DOPE ON THIS WEEK’S OPPONENT:

Packers vs. Cincinnati Bengals:

         All-time regular season:

         5-6-0

         All-time, in Cincinnati:

         1-3-0

         All-time, preseason:

         4-11-1

         Streaks: The Bengals have won the last two regular-season meetings. Prior to that, Green Bay had won three straight.

         Last meeting, regular season:

            Sept. 20, 2009, at Lambeau Field; Bengals won, 31-24

Last meeting, regular season, in Cincinnati:

Oct. 30, 2005, at Paul Brown Stadium; Bengals won, 21-14

        

PACKERS HEAD TO CINCINNATI TO TAKE ON THE BENGALS

• The Packers travel to Cincinnati this Thursday night to face the Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium, Green Bay’s first visit to Cincinnati in the preseason since 2006.
• The 2006 meeting came in Mike McCarthy’s first season as head coach. This season’s road preseason slate (at San Diego, at Cincinnati) is the same as it was in McCarthy’s debut campaign.
• The clubs’ last preseason meeting came in 2008, when the teams squared off in the opener at Lambeau Field on Monday Night Football. That contest marked QB Aaron Rodgers first NFL start (preseason or regular season), a game the Bengals won, 20-17.
• This will be the 17th preseason meeting overall between the clubs, with the Bengals holding an 11-4-1 advantage in the all-time series. The teams first faced off in the preseason in 1970, the first of 10 straight seasons (1970-79) that the clubs played each other in the preseason. Three of the meetings over that span came in Milwaukee.
• Thursday will mark the Packers’ third game ever at Paul Brown Stadium, which opened in 2000. The prior meetings were the ’06 preseason contest and a regular-season visit in 2005.
• The franchises have met just 11 times in the regular season, with the last game coming in 2009 at Lambeau Field. Over the past 13 seasons (1999-2011), the teams met just twice (2005 and 2009). The Bengals hold a 6-5-0 edge in the all-time regular-season series.
• Thursday’s matchup includes a meeting of head coaches that worked together more than 20 years ago. McCarthy and Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis both coached on the staff at the University of Pittsburgh in 1990-91. This will be the fourth meeting overall between the two head coaches (one regular-season meeting, third preseason game).
• This will be the final game before the league’s first mandatory roster reduction, one that requires teams to get down to 75 players by 3 p.m. (CDT) on Monday, Aug. 27.
• Green Bay fell to Cleveland, 35-10, in its home preseason opener last Thursday night. The Packers will close out their preseason slate next Thursday night against the Kansas City Chiefs at Lambeau Field. It marks the third straight year that the teams are meeting in the preseason finale.

WHAT IS AHEAD

After enjoying two days off from Ray Nitschke Field following the game on Thursday night vs. Cleveland, the Packers will hit the practice field three times this week, with two of the three sessions (Sunday-Monday) scheduled for 11:15 a.m. and one scheduled for 11 a.m. (Tuesday).

• The practices on Sunday and Monday are scheduled to be in full pads, though the health of the team heading into Thursday night’s contest against the Bengals could determine if those numbers stay the same.
• Including the Family Night practice, the team will have 18 practices under its belt when it takes the field vs. Cincinnati.
• Following the Cincinnati contest, the team will take two days off (Aug. 24-25) from the practice field before returning on Sunday, Aug. 26. The Packers will practice Sunday, Monday and Tuesday leading into the preseason finale at Lambeau Field on Thursday night vs. Kansas City. The Aug. 28 practice will be the final session open to the public.