Richard Skinner

rskinner@nky.com

Despite the Bengals being off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2006, fresh off three straight playoff appearances and appearing to be one of the top teams in the NFL this season, they have a long way to go in terms of ticket sales to reach the point of Sunday's home game against Tennessee not being blacked out on local television.

This season, the Bengals opted into an NFL plan introduced a couple of years ago that requires only 85 percent of non-premium seats to be sold to prevent local television blackouts, but Bengals ticket sales manager Andrew Brown wasn't very optimistic on Tuesday that would happen this week.

"Of course we would like see stronger sales and have the game be on TV, and we thought we gave a chance for all of our fans to see us that way by taking on the league's threshold, but we have a way to go this week," said Brown. "We will be staffed accordingly the next few days and hopefully we have a strong (response)."

It didn't come easy reaching that threshold last week either. The announced attendance of 58,574 marked just the second time in Marvin Lewis' 12 seasons as head coach that fan count for a home opener dipped below 62,500. The other was 43,363 for the home opener against San Francisco in Week 3 of 2011.

The game is scheduled to be broadcast by CBS (WKRC-TV, Local 12) with current Local 12 newscaster/sportscaster Brad Johansen doing the play-by-play.

In addition to the game being blacked out in Cincinnati if 85 percent of the tickets aren't sold by 1 p.m. Thursday (although the team can get an extension to 1 p.m. on Friday if it is close to reaching the 85 percent level) it will also be blacked out in a 75-mile radius, which includes Dayton and Lexington.

Tickets can be ordered by phone at (866) 621-8383 or by visiting ticketmaster.com.

NOTEWORTHY: The Bengals signed tight end Kevin Brock to the 53-man roster. He had been cut by the Bengals on Aug. 26 after signing with the team as a free agent last Dec. 31. Brock has been with Pittsburgh, Chicago, Oakland, Buffalo and Kansas City, but has played just six games in his career. The move was made necessary because of the injury to tight end Tyler Eifert and the Bengals then having to place tight end Alex Smith on the injured reserve list on Tuesday. Smith suffered a biceps injury in Sunday's game against the Falcons.

The Bengals also signed offensive tackle/guard Emmett Cleary to the practice squad. The 6-foot-7, 324-pound Cleary spent time in 2013 on the Tampa Bay practice squad, was acquired by Oakland on waivers from Tampa Bay this past June 18, and was waived by Oakland on Aug. 26. To make for Cleary tight end Ryan Otten was released from the practice squad. Otten had signed to the practice squad on Sept. 10.

Cornerback Chris Lewis-Harris Chris Lewis-Harris returned to team activities on Monday on a two-day roster exemption. The team will need to make a further determination of Lewis-Harris' roster status by Wednesday. Lewis-Harris was suspended by the NFL for the first two games of the season for violating the league's Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse. He is a second-year player who saw action in eight games last season.