Just a month after completing a monster deal for emerging leftside pass protector Levi Jones, the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday completed the second half of their offensive tackle daily double, signing right tackle Willie Anderson to a five-year contract extension. The extension, which will run through the 2011 season, is worth about $32 million. Anderson, who was entering the final year of his contract and would have been eligible for unrestricted free agency next spring without the add-on, should bank roughly $20 million in the first three years of the new deal. "The Bengals stepped to the plate and allowed me a chance to do what I've always wanted to do, which is stay with one organization my entire career," Anderson said.

Carson Palmer said Sunday that he expects to play in the Cincinnati Bengals' preseason game next Monday against Green Bay, provided he doesn't have any swelling this week in his surgically rebuilt knee. Coach Marvin Lewis was noncommittal earlier about when his starting quarterback would get on the field for the first time. Later, Palmer said he plans to be under center against the Packers. "I'm preparing to play. I'm practicing to play," Palmer said. "That's been part of the plan, part of the schedule. I'll see how I feel later in the week, but right now I'm expecting to play."

Fifth-year cornerback Rashad Bauman, who went to training camp vying for the starting nickel job in the Cincinnati Bengals' secondary, will have surgery Monday to repair a ruptured left patellar tendon and will miss the 2006 season. Bauman, 27, hurt his knee late in Friday night's preseason victory at Buffalo. The Bengals suspected that the injury was serious, and an MRI examination confirmed their fears.

Anthony Wright will debut as the starting quarterback of the Cincinnati Bengals. His performance during the first two weeks of training camp earned him the chance to start Sunday. "I showed them that I could start and I played well, and I have a chance to go out and form a chemistry with these guys," Wright said. Wright signed a one-year deal as a free agent from Baltimore on April 21, leaving precious few weeks to learn the offense and get on the same wavelength with one of the NFL's best receiving tandems in Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Palmer has been practicing with the starting offense during training camp, cutting into Wright's time to get acquainted with his new receivers. On Sunday, it will be all his at the outset.

TheCincinnati Bengals have increased the practice workload of quarterback Carson Palmer. The move came after Palmer publicly lobbied for more snaps, and privately asked coach Marvin Lewis to give him more work. It also came after a weekend in which Cincinnati coaches and executives huddled with doctors and trainers to review the status of Palmer's rehabilitation.

Bengals guard Eric Steinbach pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a charge of boating under the influence on the Ohio River, the fifth Cincinnati player in three months accused of breaking the law. A Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources officer stopped Steinbach within sight of Paul Brown Stadium, on the Cincinnati side of the river, because he was violating an idle-only zone Saturday night, agency spokesman Mark Marraccini said. He failed a series of field sobriety tests, Marraccini said.