Gia Duddy may have a very good reason to miss Andrei Iosivas’s season opener for the Cincinnati Bengals.
While the Bengals are set to open against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, Duddy used her Instagram story on Friday to say she was headed to Greece for a friend’s wedding. She posted several images from the trip, including a photo of the couple getting married, a lounge selfie, and a mirror shot showing off her travel look in grey sweatpants, a sweatshirt, and a white tank top.
She also gave the trip a playful little stamp of approval with this line: “The bag was underweight. I love the vibes of this trip already,” she wrote.
Earlier in her stories, she had already set the scene with: “Next stop Greece. Let’s get these two married,” she wrote in her previous story.
Duddy also shared an Instagram reel on September 6 that captured a lighthearted moment with friends. In the video, she danced while drinking with her girlfriends, and the wide receiver appeared in the picture kissing Duddy while hugging her from behind. She captioned it, “The cotton eye joe got the best of us,” she wrote in the caption.
The reel’s cover image was a cozy mirror selfie with Iosivas.
On the football side, Iosivas said Wednesday that he’s eager to get going when the Bengals meet the Buccaneers. Speaking to a reporter from Spectrum News, he said he has been “how excited” he has been to face Tampa Bay in Week 1.
He also addressed Joe Burrow’s offseason talk about Cincinnati chasing a Super Bowl. Asked what it will take to reach that championship goal, Iosivas said:
“Yes, I mean we're ready to play football. We've been ready for a while, so it's going to be fun to get back out there.”
And when the reporter followed up with, “Joe Burrow, all off-season, everyone talked about this team is ready for a Super Bowl. What's it going to take to get to your ultimate goal of reaching that championship?” Iosivas answered:
“I’m just playing one game at a time and seeing what's in front of us and just making sure that our job is done. So we'll take care of the Bucs, and then you know, like do the same thing every single week.”
Iosivas was drafted by the Bengals in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL draft and is currently signed to a 4-year contract worth $3.99 million.
In Other News...
Bengals Suddenly Face A Tougher Opener Than Expected
The Bengals season opener in Tampa is looking a little more demanding than it did a few days ago. Buccaneers rookie wideout Emeka Egbuka is back to full practice after dealing with a toe injury, and he is expected to be available for Week 1, giving Tampa Bay another weapon as it gets ready to face Cincinnati.
Egbuka had already shown enough promise as a rookie to draw attention before injuries slowed him down, and his return helps deepen an offense that wants to start fast. For the Bengals, it adds one more layer to a road test that already carried plenty of early-season pressure, because opening-day assignments tend to get a lot harder when a teams passing game is healthier than expected. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Face A Week 1 Problem Beyond Tampa Bays Big Names
The Bengals have spent the buildup to Week 1 focused on the obvious dangers Tampa Bay brings to the matchup, but the Buccaneers also arrive with a handful of lesser-known players who could alter the feel of the game in quieter ways. Tez Johnson, Benjamin Morrison, Elijah Roberts, Josh Williams and Keionte Scott are all part of that conversation, with each having flashed enough in preseason to make the Bengals account for more than the usual headline names.
For Cincinnati, the concern is less about star power and more about how those deeper options might be used if they are active and involved on Sunday. Some of their participation remains uncertain, which only adds to the uncertainty for a Bengals team trying to prepare for a full Tampa Bay attack, not just the players drawing the most attention. [Read more 🡒]
Marvin Lewis Sees One Real Edge For These Bengals
Marvin Lewis has seen enough Bengals football to know when a roster has a real chance to separate itself from the pack, and during a recent visit to practice before the season opener against Tampa Bay, he pointed to a familiar kind of advantage. He likes the offensive talent, sees the defensive additions as meaningful, and believes the continuity on the roster gives Cincinnati a chance to stay ahead of the usual AFC North grind.
Lewis also noted that the division landscape looks a little different in Baltimore and Pittsburgh, which only adds to the sense that the Bengals may have a cleaner path than they have in some recent seasons. The former head coach singled out Dexter Lawrence among the names that can shape that balance, and his larger point was simple enough: Cincinnati has enough in place to think about winning the division in 2026, even if the road there still has plenty of moving parts. [Read more 🡒]
