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TIME: 1 p.m. Sunday PLACE: Gillette Stadium (FieldTurf)
LOCAL RADIO: Dan Hoard (play-by-play) and Dave Lapham (analyst) on the "triple-cast" Cincinnati flagship stations of WLW-AM (700), WCKY-AM (ESPN 1530) and WEBN-FM (102.7) on the 41-station Bengals radio network.
NATIONAL RADIO: ESPN radio crew of Adam Amin (play-by-play), Bill Polian (analyst), Sal Palantonio (sideline)
TV: CBS broadcast crew of Ian Eagle (play-by-play), Dan Fouts (analyst), Evan Washburn (sideline) on Channel 12 in Cincinnati, Channel 7 in Dayton, Ohio, and Channel 27 in Lexington, Ky.
INJURIES
CIN: * *OUT: Starting TE Tyler Eifert (back)
MOST LIKELY TO PLAY:Backup WR James Wright (hamstring), who missed last week and was in and out this week, went full Friday. So did starting WR A.J. Green (calf), after sitting Wednesday. Same with starting LG Clint Boling (shoulder). RB Jeremy Hill (chest) went full Thursday and Friday. So did KR Rex Burkhead (hamstring)
THE REST: Everyone but Eifert went full Friday
NE:
OUT:Starting LB Jonathan Freeny (shoulder)
QUESTIONABLE: Everybody usually makes the New England injury report as questionable, but they aren't expected to miss any key players. Starting TE Rob Gronkowski (hamstring), was limited Wednesday and Thursday and missed Friday with an illness. Starting TE Martellus Bennett (ankle), RB LeGarrette Blount (hip), starting WR Julian Edelman (foot) were limited all week and starting LB Jamie Collins (hip) was limited Thursday and Friday. Backup RB and special teams ace Brandon Bolden (knee) surfaced Friday on the report and went limited.
THE SERIES
The 4-1 Patriots lead the 2-3 Bengals, 15-9; 9-2 in New England, 3-0 at Gillette.
NOTEWORTHY
»» The game pits the NFL's two most tenured coaches with one club. Marvin Lewis has been with the Bengals for 14 seasons and 220 games. Bill Belichick has been with the Patriots for 17 seasons and 292 games.
»» The game comes 20 years and 10 days after Lewis, for the Ravens, and Belichick, for the Patriots, met as opposing defensive coordinators at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium. The Patriots won a shootout, 46-38, even though the Ravens "held," New England to 364 yards while the old Cleveland Browns team that Belichick coached the five previous years nicked him for 463.
»» Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has faced Lewis' Bengals six times against two different quarterbacks, Carson Palmer was 0-4 and Andy Dalton is 1-2.
»» Before Brady became the man early in the 2001 season, Belichick split two games with the Bengals with Drew Bledsoe as his quarterback.
»» New England opened its first Super Bowl championship season at Paul Brown Stadium on Sept. 9, 2001 when a Bengals team that would finish 6-10 beat the Patriots, 23-17 in quarterback Jon Kitna's Bengals' debut. Kita hit tight end Tony McGee for a 25-yard TD, running back Corey Dillon rushed for 104 yards, wide receiver Darnay Scott caught 104 more, and defensive end Bernard Whittington led a charge that stopped Bledsoe shy of the Bengals' 39 on fourth-and-two with 2:41 left.
»» The last time the Bengals won in New England came on Dec. 7, 1986 in when running back James Brooks rushed for 163 yards, fullback Stanley Wilson added 120 and Boomer Esiason threw for 284 in a 31-7 win at Sullivan Stadium.
»» Bengals WR Brandon LaFell played the previous two seasons in New England and had 74 catches for the 2014 Super Bowl champs, one of them for 20 yards in the Pats' 43-17 win over the Bengals at Gillette. In the Super Bowl win over Seattle, LaFell had a TD among four catches for 29 yards, including a seven-yarder with 2:52 left that put the ball on the Seattle 5 and set up the winning TD.
»»Patriots FB James Develin was on the Bengals practice squad for part of 2010, all of 2011 and spent the 2012 training camp in Cincinnati.
NFL RANKINGS
CIN: T-24th in scoring, 10th in offense (26th rushing, 5th passing); 16th in scoring defense, 11th in defense (19th rushing, 11th passing), T-9th in turnover margin at plus-2.
NE: 17th in scoring, 7th offense (4th in rushing,14th passing); 4th in scoring defense, 13th in defense (9th rushing, 18th passing), 5th in turnover margin at plus-4.
COACHES
CIN: Marvin Lewis 114-104-2 in 14th season, 1-5 vs. Patriots and Belichick
DAL: Bill Belichick 250-124 overall in 22 seasons, 213-79 in 17th season in New England; 14-4 vs. Bengals (6-2 with Patriots and 8-2 with Browns).
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PHILIP RIVERS WEATHER UPDATE
The National Weather Service in Wilmington, Ohio is calling for sunny skies in Foxboro, Mass., and no chance of rain with a kick-off temperature of 70 degrees and light winds from the southwest at 10 miles per hour.
NUMBERS GAME
.467 - Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis' road winning percentage
.452 - Lewis' October winning percentage
.746 - Patriots head coach Bill Belichick's winning percentage in October
.640 - Bengals QB Andy Dalton's winning percentage, fourth in NFL for QBs with minimum 32 starts
.772 - Patriots QB Tom Brady's NFL-leading winning percentage
.610 - Dalton's road winning percentage
.858 - Brady's home winning percentage
38-24 - Dalton's career record vs. AFC
48-1 - Brady's record vs. AFC at Gillette since 2007
160 - Combined Bengals wins for Dalton, Carson Palmer, and Boomer Esiason
195 - Wins for Brady, six shy of Peyton Manning's NFL record Boomer Esiason
50 - Plus turnover ratio for Bengals since Lewis arrived in 2003, four behind Green Bay's second-best.
153 - Plus turnover ratio for Patriots since 2003
6,689 - Career receiving yards for Bengals WR A.J. Green
10 - Yards Green needs to move into fourth place on all-time Bengals list ahead of Cris Collinsworth
43 - Dalton-to-Green TD passes in Green's 81 games
64 - Brady-to-Gronkowski TD passes for most in Pats history in Gronkowksi's 83 games
294 - Points Bengals on pace to score in 2016
204 - Points Bengals scored in 2008, last season they didn't score at least 305
1,340 - Rushing yards Bengals are on pace for this season
1,439 - Bengals fewest rushing yards in 16-game season, 1995
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