The Bengals open the regular season at home for the fourth time in the past five years when they host the New England Patriots at Paycor Stadium on Sunday. The game kicks off at 1 p.m. on CBS/Paramount+. Here is what to watch for:

Open In Orange

The Bengals will debut their recently unveiled orange pants on Sunday in front of a Paycor Stadium Orange Out crowd. The team will combine the new pants — which also feature black Bengals striping — with its orange jersey and black socks.

Cincinnati's orange jersey, which serves as the designated alternate uniform, has been worn five times since the team's 2021 uniform re-design. The Bengals have a 4-1 record in those games, with the wins offering some key moments in recent franchise history:

• 2021 Week 4 vs. Jacksonville: The Bengals defeated the Jaguars 24-21 on Thursday Night Football to improve to 3-1 for the first time under head coach Zac Taylor. Cincinnati clawed back from deficits of 14-0 and 21-14, and rookie Evan McPherson walked it off with a 35-yard field goal as time expired.
• 2021 Week 12 vs. Pittsburgh: The Bengals completed a season sweep of their AFC North rival with a dominant 41-10 home win. The 31-point drubbing tied Cincinnati's second-largest margin of victory ever over the Steelers (largest since 1989) and included cornerback Mike Hilton’s pick-six against his former team just before halftime.
• 2021 Week 17 vs. Kansas City: Cincinnati clinched its first AFC North crown in six seasons when it beat the high-powered Chiefs 34-31 to ring in the new year. The back-and-forth thriller was highlighted by a Bengals single-game record 266 receiving yards from rookie Ja’Marr Chase, who also caught three of Joe Burrow’s four touchdown passes. The Bengals ended the game on a 15-play drive that drained the final six minutes of regulation, capped by another winner off the right foot of McPherson.
• 2022 Week 13 vs. Kansas City: The Bengals defeated the Chiefs for a third straight time in the same calendar year, holding off Kansas City 27-24 at Paycor. Burrow completed 25-of-31 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns (126.6 passer rating), good enough to collect his fourth career AFC Offensive Player of the Week award. He closed out the game with a tight-window pass to receiver Tee Higgins on third-and-11 as the Bengals secured their fourth W in a row.

Burrow Aims For 100th TD In Regular-Season Return

Fifth-year quarterback Joe Burrow is slated to make his first start in a regular-season game since Week 11 of the 2023 campaign. In 10 games played last season, Burrow completed 66.8 percent of his passes for 2,309 yards and 15 touchdowns, but his most notable stretch came when he operated at full health from Weeks 5-10. In those five games, he led the NFL in completion percentage (74.1), ranked second in completions (146), second in passer rating (107.0), third in TD passes (12) and fourth in passing yards (1,480). He guided Cincinnati to a 4-1 record during that run, which included wins over the eventual NFC champion San Francisco 49ers and AFC East-winning Buffalo Bills.

Burrow enters Sunday with 97 career touchdown passes in 52 games. Should he throw for three scores in his 53rd game, he would tie as the fifth-fastest quarterback in league history to reach 100.

• He is in line to become the fastest Bengal ever to throw for 100 TDs, surpassing Carson Palmer (59 games) and Andy Dalton (65 games).
• Previous players who threw their 100th TD pass in 53 or fewer games include Kansas City QB Patrick Mahomes (40 games), former Miami QB Dan Marino (44), former St. Louis Rams QB Kurt Warner (50), Los Angeles Chargers QB Justin Herbert (52), former Houston QB Deshaun Watson (53) and former Baltimore Colts QB Johnny Unitas (53).

Gesicki, Brown Face Familiar Foe

A pair of Bengals free agent acquisitions this spring, tight end Mike Gesicki and right tackle Trent Brown, spent the 2023 season with New England. Gesicki logged 29 catches for 244 yards in his lone season as a Patriot after playing for the AFC East-rival Miami Dolphins in his first five years. In the nine previous games he's played against New England, he has 14 grabs for 125 yards and two touchdowns.

Brown had two stints with New England, spending 2018 with the Patriots and then returning for the 2021-23 seasons. In total, he played in 53 regular-season games with 49 starts, including eight starts at left tackle last year. He also started four postseason games for the Patriots, with three coming after the 2018 campaign when he helped New England to a Super Bowl LIII title.

Head coach Zac Taylor confirmed this week that Brown will start at right tackle in his Bengals debut against his former team.

Other Free Agent Additions

The Bengals' starting lineup on Sunday will be scattered with more 2024 free agent acquisitions, highlighted by the safety duo of Vonn Bell and Geno Stone. Bell enters his fourth overall season with Cincinnati, after previously playing for the Bengals from 2020-22 and then spending 2023 with Carolina. The team recently voted him a captain once again, an honor he held in each of his three prior years in stripes. He has started all 48 regular-season games he's played in as a Bengal, totaling 288 tackles, five interceptions and eight forced fumbles. He also started seven postseason contests and contributed one of the most memorable plays in recent team history, an interception in overtime of the 2021 AFC Championship that set up the Bengals' game-winning drive.

Stone is coming off a breakout 2023 season with Baltimore, leading the AFC with a career-high seven interceptions. It also was the most picks in a season by a Ravens player since Hall of Fame safety Ed Reed had eight in 2010.

Offensively, the Bengals welcomed Zack Moss, a fifth-year running back who posted career highs in rushing attempts (183), yards (794) and touchdowns (five) last season with Indianapolis. Moss figures to share the snap count with second-year back Chase Brown, who averaged 4.1 yards per carry and totaled 322 scrimmage yards over the final six games of his rookie campaign with Cincinnati.

Home Cookin'

The Bengals have won 16 of their last 20 home games, including the postseason, dating back to Week 16 of the 2021 campaign. The last time Cincinnati had more home wins in a 20-game stretch was from the 1988 season opener through Week 3 of the 1990 season: The team went 17-3 at Riverfront Stadium.

Paycor Stadium also has welcomed an announced attendance figure of over 65,000 in 16 consecutive regular-season games, going back to the 2022 opener against Pittsburgh. It's the second-longest streak in franchise history behind 24 straight home games from 2005-07.

The Bengals are 14-14 all-time in season openers played at home, including 1-0 against New England. Cincinnati beat the Patriots 23-17 in Week 1 of the 2001 season, behind 104 rushing yards from running back Corey Dillon and 104 receiving yards from wide receiver Darnay Scott.