“On behalf of the entire Bengals organization, I want to thank Procter & Gamble and Kroger for their great leadership, helping the team and Cincinnati region get the game sold out and on television for everyone,” Bengals Executive Vice President Katie Blackburn said. “Through the efforts from many of our business partners and fans across the region who stepped forward to buy tickets, our team is sure to have a great home-field advantage Sunday.”
The Bengals were one of three teams who requested and received deadline extensions, along with the Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts. All three clubs announced sellouts Friday.
The last NFL playoff game to be blacked out on local television was Baltimore at Miami in January 2002.
The distribution of free tickets will take place today. Active or retired service personnel can get up to two tickets each by showing their military identification at the following Kroger locations and times:
Blue Ash, 4100 Hunt Rd., 4-6 p.m.; Amelia, 262 Main St., 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.; Liberty Township, 7300 Yankee Rd., 12-2 p.m.’ Newport, 130 Pavilion Pkwy, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.; Dent, 5830 Harrison Ave., 1-3 p.m.; Austin Landing, 10101 Landing Way, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.; Englewood, 885 Union Blvd., 12-2 p.m.
Injury report: Eleven of the 12 Bengals on the injury report were full participants in practice Friday. Six of the 12 are listed as probable for Sunday's AFC Wild-Card game against San Diego – tackle Anthony Collins (ankle), safety Chris Crocker (knee), wide receiver A.J. Green (knee), cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick (illness), linebacker Vinny Rey (ankle), tackle Andre Smith (ankle) and guard Andrew Whitworth (ankle).
The four who are questionable are tight end Kyle Cook (foot), tight end Tyler Eifert (neck), defensive end Wallace Gilberry (concussion) and tight end Jermaine Gresham (hamstring).
Cornerback Terence Newman (knee) was the only player limited Friday and is listed as doubtful.
Maualuga movie: Bengals fans are used to seeing middle linebacker Rey Maualuga on television, but soon they will have a chance to see him on the big screen as well.
Maualuga landed a part in the Jon Hamm movie “Million Dollar Arm” and is featured in the trailer.
“The role was for an NFL football player of Samoan descent,” Maualuga said. “I just so happened to get a call from my agent. Domata (Peko) and I tried out for it. I did an audition tape. I didn’t think anything bad was going to come out of it, just figured I’d try. I had an opportunity to Skype the producer and he liked what he saw and was like, ‘You’ve got the part if you want it.’ ”
The movie is about a sports agent who stages a reality contest in India to try find a pitcher worthy of a tryout in the majors.
Peko said he had fun auditioning even though he didn’t get the part. And he said there are no hard feelings about losing out to his teammate.
“Look at this face, man,” Peko said. “This doesn’t belong on the big screen. It belongs under a helmet.”
Cola contest: Bengals running back Giovani Bernard is one of five finalists for the Pepsi Next Rookie of the Year award.
The other four are Green Bay running back Eddie Lacy, San Diego wide receiver Keenan Allen, Buffalo linebacker Kiko Alonso and Minnesota wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson.
Fans can vote at nfl.com/rookies through Jan. 28.
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