Sunday's 16-10 loss to the Patriots in the opener at Paycor Stadium is categorized as an upset, but rookie punter Ryan Rehkow also hatched a surprise when he re-wrote the Bengals record book.
On his second NFL punt, he boomed a club-record 80 yarder, breaking the record of 75 held by each Kevin Huber and Kyle Larson. His four punts averaged 65.3 yards, breaking the record set by Will Brice on 1999 Opening Day in Tennessee. His net average went for 52 yards, second only to Huber's 55.5 set in San Diego in 2013. It eclipsed Lee Johnson's 30-year-old runner-up mark of 51.3 set inside Seattle's Kingdome.
Johnson, whose 169 games played is second only to Huber among Bengals punters, kicked collegiately at BYU before he came to Cincinnati. Rehkow also kicked in Provo before signing with the Chiefs after April's draft.
The Chiefs cut Rehkow after the mandatory minicamp, and the Bengals picked him up on the eve of training camp. The numbers tell you why. They believe he's got the strongest leg they've had in special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons' 22 seasons here.
The 80-yarder hugged the 1-yard line in the front corner before it trickled into the end zone.
"Someone told me I haven't played here enough to get home-field advantage," Rehkow said. "But if it could have happened, it would have been even better. But I was glad to flip the field on that one for sure."
Rehkow's first punt went 57 yards and also ended up in the end zone, but his last one flew 70 yards to the Pats 15 with a 10-yard return and got the Bengals out of a hole when they really needed it with 2:13 left in the game.
"I think that's kind of our job. We're here if you need us, we're here if you don't," Rehkow said. "I definitely wish we could have one or two (fewer) touchbacks. That would have set us up even better. It was a good way to start … We want the team to win and if (specialists) can help in that way, of course we're going to try and do that."
SIMPLE ANALYSIS
For the Bengals, there was pretty much one reason why they felt they lost.
Well, two reasons: two lost fumbles that translated into 10 points. It's new territory for a team that last year fumbled only ten times and lost an NFL-low two.
"You can't lose the turnover battle two to zero," said running back Zack Moss, who scored their lone touchdown in his Bengals debut. "It's hard enough to win in this league."
"That was the biggest thing today was turnovers," said wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, who fought through illness to lead the Bengals with six catches for 62 yards. "Turnover, battle. We lost."
"It's a game of momentum," said left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. "When you're in those situations and you have a touchdown called back and a touchdown that's fumbled, that's momentum. This isn't taking anything away from Tanner Hudson. He's going to do great things for us this year."
Hudson, the fifth-year tight end from Southern Arkansas, had to go all the way back to his junior year to recall his last fumble.
"Last play of the game," Hudson said. "I tried to jump a dude. He took out my legs and I just let go of the ball because I was eight (feet) in the air and I didn't feel like falling on my face."
This one came after Hudson caught a quick slant over the middle on third-and goal from the Pats 11 with about five minutes left in the first half. That came the play after tight end Mike Gesicki had the tying touchdown overturned when he barely missed holding on to the ball as he went to the ground.
It looked like Hudson was going to tie it immediately at seven as he sailed into the end zone. He hit the Pats 2-yard line, and it appeared he tried to extend the ball as Pats safety Kyle Dugger knocked it away and cornerback Marcus Jones scooped it up at the 1.
The Bengals didn't even get a field goal, and they never got the ball back because the Pats converted the mistake into a walk-off field goal.
"I just have to keep it tight. Not to hold it out to the side. Take care of the ball," Hudson said. "It didn't feel like anyone was around me. I'll just see what it looks like on film and see what happened."
It's uncharted territory for the Bengals, Hudson and Bengals punt returner Charlie Jones. Jones's fumbled punt at the Bengals 24 in the first two minutes of the second half allowed the Pats to get a field goal without a first down.
Jones had to go back to 2020 and two colleges (Iowa) to recall his last fumble. Pats long snapper Joe Cardona got his helmet on the ball, but Jones said, "Can't let that happen. Can't do it."
JA'MARR GRINDS
Chase had to grind for those game-high six catches and 62 yards. After suffering food poisoning over the weekend, he had two I.V.s when he arrived at the stadium Sunday morning. That was after his preseason was limited to five practices during his negotiations for a contract extension. Most of them came last week.
But Chase played a ton of snaps Sunday and had a big third-down conversion in the Bengals' touchdown drive as they tried to compensate for the loss of the other starting wide receiver, Tee Higgins, inactive with a hamstring issue.
"Doesn't matter, I played bro," said Chase when asked if he was 100%.
Chase also had the Bengals' longest play and his longest target, a 28-yarder down the middle. He seemed frustrated that he didn't do more with it, but he got an explanation from quarterback Joe Burrow.
"I felt I had an opportunity to make a play and probably score," Chase said. "But he slowed me down with the ball, so I thought about protecting myself as I was getting hit. When he threw it like that, he was protecting me, he said."
Chase drew 2023 first-round cornerback Christian Gonzalez most of the day.
"They played man the whole game. Not many teams play us man (that much), Chase said. "I thought they would from the jump. We have to pay attention to it and try to kill them with it."
Chase, who took no questions about his contract status, said the most frustrating moment of the day was the last drive of the game when the Bengals got the ball at their own 10 with 3:04 left and all their timeouts, but had to punt after getting five yards.
JOEY B
Burrow threw for 164 yards on 21-of-29 passes. His M.O. is he gets better as he goes. Of his dozen sub-200-yard games, five of them are in September.
With his first full training camp under his belt, he's looking to get off to a quicker start.
"We'll have to watch the tape. I don't really have an answer for you right now, I'll have a better answer on Wednesday," said Burrow, who like Chase, saw that New England took away the deep shots.
"They were taking it away. They did a good job. They had a good plan. I was just taking what they gave me. We will watch the tape and see if we had some other opportunities to get the ball down the field and figure that out."
Also like Chase, Burrow was disappointed in the last three plays of offense when the Bengals had all their timeouts with 3:04 left and on their own 10. A good rush didn't allow him to get anything on the first down pass to Chase and went short over the middle, a second-down checkdown to Moss didn't connect. On third down, Burrow had to unload a five-yard dump pass to Moss as a last resort.
"I missed Ja'Marr on the first play. I missed Zack on the second play. Then, they played coverage I didn't expect on the third-down play. It was not my best drive," Burrow said.
PRATT POINTS TO TACKLING
After that three-and-out that left them at their own 15, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor didn't blink an eye when deciding to punt. His defense had allowed 16 points, tied for the fewest they had allowed in the last nine openers. Most of the points came off turnover swings.
"Just trust our defense. We had three timeouts, two-minute warning. Our defense really played well," Taylor said. "We fumbled a punt, gave them the three points, and really gave them a momentum shift when we fumbled going into score. They turned around and turned that into seven points. So 10 points off turnovers, and that's going to be a tough way to win."
Newly elected captain Germaine Pratt wasn't pleased with giving up 170 rushing yards, 125 of them to running back Rhamondre Stevenson. The Bengals had trouble at times stopping the run last year and made it a point of emphasis in the offseason. Pratt, who had eight tackles Sunday to go with fellow backer Logan Wilson’s 13, thinks they have solved last year's problems.
He says Sunday's problem is simple.
"Tackling," Pratt said. "We just never stopped the run. They didn't really do too much. It's not the same stuff (from last year). It's the first game. We just have to tackle."
Defensive tackle B.J. Hill, who says he's fine after limping off the field late, tended to agree with his N.C. State soulmate.
"We were in position to make the plays, we just have to make them," Hill said. "It wasn't anything crazy they were doing. We just have to come out and make plays.
"(Tackling) is the biggest point at the end of the day."
