In their second season under head coach Marvin Lewis, the Bengals continued their rebuilding process, posting a second straight 8-8 record. All eight regular-season games at Paul Brown Stadium were sellouts — the first sold-out regular season since 1992 at Riverfront Stadium — and the total regular-season attendance of 524,248 put the team over the half-million mark for the first time. The team's break-even finish was a creditable performance, given that injuries were severe (18 players were placed on season-ending medical reserve lists) and that second-year QB Carson Palmer was seeing his first NFL playing time. Palmer, the 2003 first overall NFL draft pick, had not played as a rookie while backing up Jon Kitna. Palmer started the first 13 games before missing the final three with a knee strain. HB Rudi Johnson rushed for a club-record 1454 yards (a mark he later broke), and the team had four players named to the Pro Bowl, its highest total since 1990. The Pro Bowl quartet was Rudi Johnson, WR Chad Johnson, OT Willie Anderson and CB Tory James. K Shayne Graham set a club record with 122 points (since surpassed by Mike Nugent). Home games were played on a new, synthetic Field-Turf surface, on which installation was complete in early July. PBS had grass fields from 2000-03, but durability and maintenance issues dictated a switch. The team also made its first significant uniform change since 1981. The signature striped helmet was not changed, but the jersey design was modernized, black pants were added as a regular option to white pants, and a special-occasion orange jersey was added for up to two games per year. The team wore orange jerseys for the first time in franchise history in a 26-3 win vs. Dallas on Nov. 7. On Nov. 28, the Bengals played in what remains through 2017 as the second-highest scoring game in NFL history, a 58-48 home win over Cleveland (106 total points). The game stands through '17 as the only one in which the Bengals have scored in double figures in all four quarters (14-13-14-17). Prior to the season, HB Corey Dillon, the club's all-time rushing yards leader, was traded to New England for a second-round 2005 draft choice (Bengals chose S Madieu Williams).
