CINCINNATI (WKRC) – Here are five storylines of note in Sunday’s Bengals game at the Cleveland Browns, which will kick off at 1 p.m. at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland:

5. Who will provide Bengals pass rush juice other than Hendrickson?

The Skinny: The Bengals are hoping to get more out of their pass rush than just Trey Hendrickson, who recorded 17.5 of the team’s 36 quarterback sacks last season.

Defensive end Joseph Ossai will start opposite Hendrickson and did record all five of his 2024 sacks over the final seven games, including recording at least 0.5 sacks in six of those games. He was re-signed to a one-year deal in hopes that showed genuine progress, because in his first 40 career games he had all of 4.5 sacks.

End Myles Murphy, the team’s 2023 first-round pick, struggled his first two seasons and had an inconsistent training camp before missing some time due to an injury. He is back healthy and is expected to play significant snaps in this game.

Then there is this year’s first-round Shemar Stewart, who flashed numerous times in training camp, but missed the first three camp practices due to contract issues that also led to him not participating in any of the team’s offseason program. Stewart may play not at end, but possibly at tackle on passing downs.

“He’s made a lot of progress,” said Bengals first-year defensive coordinator Al Golden. “We’re going to work right through the kickoff with him, just because we’ve missed so much time … but excited about Shemar and what he can do for us.”

On the inside giving B.J. Hill more rest should help him as he is expected to rotate with Kris Jenkins, who had an inconsistent rookie season in 2024 due in part to a hand injury, but was cited by Golden as having the best training camp of any defensive player.

Because it is the opener and because Hendrickson has only five practices under his belt since ending his “hold-in,” Golden wants to rotate all across the defensive line.

“I think four tackles, four ends, and what that ratio is, I think remains to be seen,” said Golden. “I just have to see where we’re at. We’re gonna work to see where everybody’s at – B.J., Trey, Shemar, Myles coming off the injury. I would love to rotate a bunch of guys through, be fresh, and then obviously use Trey, get back on track, third down, two-minute, whatever the case may be, just use him to his strengths.”

4. Chase-Ward battle should be a good one

The Skinny: Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase is coming off a rare Triple Crown season in which he led the NFL in receptions, receiving yards and touchdown catches and that speaks for itself, while Browns cornerback Denzel Ward is considered one of the best in the league and has been named to four Pro Bowl teams in his seven-year career, including each of the last two seasons.

The two will be matched up against each other often in this game. This will be the seventh time the two have played against each other in their careers. In the previous six games, Chase was targeted with Ward in coverage 16 times and had eight combined catches for 91 yards and one touchdown. Ward has all three of his interceptions against the Bengals on passes intended for Chase, including a 99-yard return for a touchdown in a 2021 Browns win in Cincinnati.

“Always a good matchup with him,” said Chase. “One of the top guys in the league always know that you just got to be on your game with him, so I always like that matchup.”

Chase said he expects the Browns to play a significant amount of man-to-man coverage and Ward will likely follow him whenever he lines up outside, but likely won’t follow him when Chase lines up in the slot.

Chase admits he likes to trash talk, while he said Ward is usually pretty quiet, although Ward made headlines this week for something he said heading into this game. “I’m looking forward to going into the game, and hopefully they target me a lot,” said Ward. “Go send Joe Burrow some texts, tell him to throw at me, and we’ll go from there. I’m gonna enjoy it.”

Chase was caught by surprise when told about Ward’s comment. “The first time him ever talking to me in the game was last year and I turned around and say, ‘what the hell?'” said Chase. “I don’t never hear him say nothing. Trash talking is fun. That’s why I like doing it.”

We’ll see who gets the last word on Sunday.

3. How will changing of the guards work out for Bengals?

The Skinny: There will be two new starting guards for the Bengals from the two who started in 2024 and that is the lone question mark on a loaded offense. Rookie third-round pick Dylan Fairchild was plugged in as a starter from the first day of training camp and had a good camp and preseason. Veteran Lucas Patrick was signed as a free agent in the offseason and won the starting spot at right guard in a brief battle with veteran Cody Ford, but veteran Dalton Risner was signed last week as insurance.

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor was asked what Patrick did to earn the starting nod. “I like his experience,” said Taylor. “I like how he has interacted with the other linemen. I’ve got a lot of confidence in him. He’s shown me what I needed to see, so I’m excited for him.”

Offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said there is no plan to rotate Patrick and Risner. “As we take in new information we could evolve to that point,” said Pitcher. “My personal opinion is that unit of all the units on the field there are five guys who operate as, really, one. In particular, the sides of the line. The reps that are spent together are critical. Obviously guys have to be able to mix and match and fill in as needed, but at least for the time being an in-game rotation is not in the cards.”

Fairchild and Patrick will face a major challenge at times from Browns standout Myles Garrett, who normally lines up at end, but does line up inside at times, and 6-foot-3, 320-pound rookie first-round pick tackle Mason Graham was impressive in training camp and the preseason.

“We’ve done our best to invest in and prepare these guys,” said Pitcher. “Lucas has a lot of games under his belt and Dylan has been our starter since day one. Put him there between (left tackle) Orlando (Brown) and (center) Ted (Karras) and it’s on everybody to help and develop him as well. He’s taken it upon himself and done a really good job. I’m excited to watch these guys play. I’m excited to watch the entire unit play. These guys have bonded well together and I expect get there best on Sunday.”

2. Garrett can still wreck a game, but Bengals stymied him last season

The Skinny: Garrett is considered one of the top — if not the best — defensive ends in the NFL and he has had success against the Bengals with 13.0 sacks and 27 quarterback hits in 12 career games against them. The sack total is tied for his most against an opponent and the quarterback hits are the most against an opponent.

“If you’re not accounting for his presence on every play that’s on the call sheet, then you’re making a mistake,” said Pitcher. “So you can account for his presence in a variety of different ways. I’m not going to outline all of them, but obviously you’ve seen how we’ve played them before. He absolutely is the caliber of player that if you are not going through that exercise, then you’re not – in my opinion – doing your job as a coach. As someone who is influential on the gameplan and what’s going to be called, if I’m not doing that, I’m not doing my job. So we’re doing that. How that’s going to look will vary depending on situation, depending on where we are on the field, depending on what the game looks like, but make no mistake, he’s a major factor when we play these guys.”

Burrow has been sacked 10 times and been hit 19 games by Garrett in six career games against him.

“He can win the game if you let him,” said Burrow. “You have to, No. 1, gameplan around him. No. 2, as a quarterback, you have to be aware of where he’s at at all times with protection IDs and also know where your quick answer is in whatever concept you have called, because sometimes he’s back there before you can catch the ball, basically, and you have to get it out. We play great rushers a lot. He’s one of the best, if not the best, but in this division, you plays guys like that a lot. We’ll have a good plan for him. He’s going to make plays, and when he does, you gotta hold on the ball and not make a bad play worse.”

1. A golden opportunity to avoid the slow start that has become the norm

The Skinny: In Taylor’s first six seasons as head coach the Bengals went 1-11 in the first two games of each season combined, while Burrow is 1-9, but several of Burrow’s injuries and medical maladies have factored into those slow starts significantly.

This year, Burrow came through training camp fully healthy and he and the first team offense played five preseason series and scored touchdowns on four of them.

There is no one listed on the injury report for this game and Cleveland is coming off a 3-14 season, so this is a great chance to get off to a fast start.

“We’re treating it like any other game,” said Burrow. “We’re not doing anything differently. Obviously, there’s an emphasis on the start of this season and then having to win some of these games early, but that comes down to Sundays. Our prep has always been excellent in my opinion. We’re going to have the right game plan, because we have great coaches, and we’re going to know what we’re doing when we’re out there, because we put in the work. It’s just about going out and executing those plays and doing the right things on Sunday.”

Taylor said he understands the slow starts narrative, and he even made some changes to the preseason by holding practices in the morning rather than the afternoon and allowing his starters to play in preseason games.

“Every year’s a new year. Every first game is a new first game, so we just have to focus on the things we can control,” said Taylor. “I don’t worry about whatever questions people have on us. Every day we’ve got things we’re trying to focus on and improve on and try to turn some weaknesses into some strengths of ours. I feel comfortable with where we’re at. I’m not worried about what questions people do or don’t have about us. We just have to go out there and play well. I don’t know that the external expectation will ever exceed the internal expectation. What we expect from ourselves is to be the best and to be at the top at the end, and so there is no external anything anybody can say or think that’s different than the pressure we put on ourselves. We put that urgency and expectation on ourself every single day.”

PREDICTION: Bengals 27, Browns 19

The Skinny: There is no excuse for the Bengals not to win this game and with a fully healthy team and a drive to avoid the slow start narrative, they get that win.