News

Updated: 4:45 p.m.

Within 15 minutes of wide receiver Chad Ochocinco's tweet that he'll buy an additional two tickets for the first 85 people that order at least two tickets to Sunday's 1 p.m. game against Tampa Bay, the Paul Brown Stadium phones were ringing off the hook as the Bengals look to extend their sellout streak to 55. Ticket sales manager Andrew Brown said half the allotment was gone in the first 30 minutes, they were all gone by the end of business, and he feels "much more confident" about a sellout than he did Monday.

"We're close," he said. "We're close enough that we feel we could ask for an extension. ... It's going to go down to the wire (Thursday at 1 p.m.).

Brown said The Ocho transaction can come only on the phone at 513-621-8383.

» While Browns cornerback T.J. Ward has been fined for Sunday's hit on Bengals wide receiver Jordan Shipley, Bengals safety Chinedum Ndukwe has learned he won't be fined for his hit on tight end Ben Watson at the end of the first half that was flagged for unnecessary roughness. "They said it was clean," Ndukwe said. "They said we won the appeal."

» Cornerback Johnathan Joseph says he'll practice with his bruised forearm Wednesday, but he's not sure if he'll be able to go Sunday. He wants to see if he'll be able to jam receivers and fight off blockers and he was dressed for Wednesday's practice. He was listed as limited. He said he took a shot where the muscle extends to the forearm. 

» Head coach Marvin Lewis wouldn't elaborate on Shipley (concussion) and safety Roy Williams (knee) during his Wednesday news conference. Shipley, Williams and defensive lineman Jon Fanene didn't dress for practice. Also limited with hamstring issues were running back Bernard Scott and middle linebacker Dhani Jones.  

» In his media availability quarterback Carson Palmer freely talked about the psychological impact of Sunday's game against Tampa Bay with the bye week looming.

"This is a must win, absolutely," Palmer said. "Coming off a bye week off of a win two weeks ago is a big deal. We're acting like our backs are against the wall because they are."

» Wide receiver Terrell Owens doesn't know if any more teams will play him one-on-one like the Browns did Sunday, but he thinks his 222 yards sent a messge to the naysayers.

"It's ignorance," he said of the general managers and scouts that deemed him done at 36. "They don't know me. I know me and God has put me in a position to be able to play at a high level at my age. Who says just because you're in your 30s you can't play. Who dictates that? No man can dictate that and I think I showed that in the game this Sunday."

» Owens also thought the Randy Moss trade sent a message. And not a great one to players.

"Trust me, I know (Tom) Brady is a great quarterback," he said, "but if you look at the numbers that he's put up with Randy, they're very impressive. I think a lot guys should look at this from a standpoint that it is a business. You have go out there and do whatever you can for your family and yourself. Because when it comes to management and owners, they don't care about you. That right there showed that they feel you're expendable.

"It's mind-boggling. It's disappointing for Randy to be traded at this point in his career and not be able to have a big payday. Look at Brady. Brady just had a payday and a lot of the numbers he's put up is because of Randy."

» After getting 45 of his 60 yards out of the no-huddle offense last Sunday, count running back Cedric Benson as a supporter. Asked if he'd like to see more no-huddle, he said, "Sure, why not? If we’re successful in doing that, then absolutely."

» Call it the Dezmon Briscoe Bowl and he probably won't even be here. The Bengals cut their sixth-rounder, a wide receiver from Kansas, with the intent of signing him to the practice squad at about the standard $5,000 per week. Instead, the Bucs offered him a spot on their practice squad for the minimum rookie salary of an active player, $325,000, in what is a very rare practice.

Per Pat Yasinskas, ESPN.com's blogger for the NFC South, Lewis is still irked about the move when asked about it during Wednesday's conference call with the Tampa media.

"When you overpay a guy on the practice squad, you create a problem for teams,'' Lewis said. "I don't know that teams want to set that precedent and they did with Dez.

"That's not a great precedent for teams to set as we try to keep the NFL and doing the things we're trying to do as a league. It's still a league of 32 teams and things are put together a certain way.''

Yasinskas got in a shot of his own on his blog about the Bucs already being 2-0 against the Bengals this year.

"They got Briscoe and they also got the last laugh as the Bengals paid a ton of money to former Tampa Bay receiver Antonio Bryant and had to turn around and cut him."

» Yasinskas, also calling it The Briscoe Bowl, got an icy response from Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris.

“I’m really not concerned about Marvin Lewis’ comments about how we run our organization,’’ Morris said. “It’s a credit to our management, and our ownership, and what we want to do and how we wanted to get him. That’s really all there is to be said there. I heard that comment and that’s Marvin’s opinion."