A steady light rain began to pelt Paul Brown Stadium about an hour before Monday’s game against the Texans and that was about the only pre-game surprise when Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis delivered his inactive list.
As expected, former Texan Eric Winston got his second straight start with right tackle Andre Smith (concussion) scratched again. Defensive tackle Pat Sims, who has been inactive four of the last six games, got the nod in place of Brandon Thompson. And they opted to go with five linebackers and eight defensive linemen instead of six and seven when they activated end Margus Hunt for the second straight week and sat rookie linebacker P.