It looks like the Bengals are going to avoid a blackout for the first game of the three-game home stand that begins Sunday 1 p.m. at Paul Brown Stadium with the AFC North lead on the line against the Ravens.
Andrew Brown, the Bengals ticket sales manager, said Wednesday near the close of business that a typical Thursday sale would put the game on Cincinnati's Channel 12 and elsewhere in the market. He compared it to the Carolina game, when the 85 percent threshold was reached on Thursday without an extension.
RARE QB:
Terrell Suggs, the Ravens feared sacker, admitted in Wednesday's conference call with the Cincinnati media that he doesn't like many quarterbacks in the NFL. But he likes the Bengals' Andy Dalton after meeting him at the Super Bowl in Indianapolis following Dalton's rookie year in 2011.
"We chatted it up in the elevator a little bit. I like his pizazz, just the kind of guy he is," Suggs said. "He is a really cool cat. He's cooler than I think he leads on. That's why I'm a big fan. I just hate that he's in my division."
"He's definitely fooled y'all. He's got you fooled," said Suggs of a media that sees Dalton as workman-like. "A lot of players, we don't really open up to the media as much we should, probably. From player to player, I have a tremendous amount of respect of the kid. He's going to do some great things in this league, and we're going to try to limit that number on Sunday."
NO NOISE FOR JONES
Cornerback Adam Jones, the NFL's leading punt returner, has been peppered with questions about adversity the past two weeks. On Wednesday he conjured up the defensive mantra of "Ignore the Noise."
"Adversity? We get paid to do a job," Jones said. "Everybody in here should be eager for the challenge at hand. You have to ignore the noise. When it's good you have to ignore it and when it's bad you have to ignore it. We have to focus on the game and do what we got to do to win the game."
There is no separation between positive and negative noise.
"If you're going to be with us you're going to be with us and if you ain't, you ain't," Jones said. "In the locker room we need to win this game for the division and for ourselves. As far as for people who are jumping on and off the bandwagon, nobody really cares."
