By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Bengals upgraded tight end Reggie Kelly to probable for the Steelers game Sunday at Pittsburgh.

Kelly, who suffered a stress fracture in his foot against Seattle, has missed the past four games. He had started the first seven games. Kelly practiced Friday for the third consecutive day.

Kelly said he expects to play.

CAPTAINS: After having coaches choose different captains for each game, Bengals players elected captains Friday for the rest of the season.

They are quarterback Jon Kitna, middle linebacker Kevin Hardy, safety Kevin Kaesviharn and cornerback Reggie Myles. They were the top four vote-getters and not chosen by position.

DILLON AND RUDI: Corey Dillon is expected to start Sunday ahead of Rudi Johnson. Now healthy, Dillon is expected to log about two-thirds of the rushing attempts.

TRAVEL PLANS: After leaving three times this season on Friday for road games at Oakland, Arizona and San Diego, the Bengals will fly today to Pittsburgh.

NUMBERS CRUNCH: Johnson has 537 rushing yards and four touchdowns in the past five games, a 107.4-yard average. League review assigned Johnson a minus-10 yard run in the first quarter at San Diego, even though Chargers cornerback Sammy Davis was called for a face-mask penalty. Johnson now has 662 rushing yards on 155 attempts this season.

As a result of the loss, the Bengals had 215 rushing yards against the Chargers, not the initially reported 225. The total yards drop to 444 on 86 plays.

CHA-CHING: Wide receiver Chad Johnson said he was fined by the NFL for wearing his uniform socks too low at San Diego and that his fine total for the season has reached $55,000.

HOMECOMING: Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis spent the first four seasons (1992-95) in the NFL coaching Steelers linebackers and playing his home games at Three Rivers Stadium. The Steelers last played there in 2000.

The Pittsburgh-area native would have a harder time going home if the Steelers played at Three Rivers instead of Heinz Field.

"The first time coming home as a Ravens assistant (1996) was tough," Lewis said. "Right now (Cincinnati) is home. The Bengals are No. 1. That's what counts, and I'm excited for the team because they have worked hard for this opportunity."

ETC.: The Bengals have 20 sacks through 11 games, up from the 13 they had at the same point in 2002. . . . Wide receiver Peter Warrick has 10 receiving touchdowns in his past 19 games - compared to six TD catches in his first 39 NFL games.

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E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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