Tycen Anderson, his personal protector, walked by Ryan Rehkow after Friday's practice, pointed and observed, "Best punter in the NFL."
The weekly stats heading into Sunday's game (4:25 p.m.-Cincinnati’s FOX 19) at Paycor Stadium against the Lions confirm Anderson's pronouncement. His 52.7 yards per rocket put him nearly 6.5 yards ahead of runner-up Corey Bojorquez of the Browns.
Demanding Bengals special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons went a step further. Simmons, the longest-tenured kicking game coach in the league, offered, "He hit some punts (Monday night) I never charted before when you combine the yardage and the hang time. You know how many human beings can do that? Not many."
Three of Rehkow's eight punts at Mile High soared for 5.5 seconds. Unheard of when five seconds is what they're aiming to hang, and he still got that much yardage.
And don't credit the thin air.
"It never hurts punting in Denver. It's never going to hurt your hang time," Rehkow said. "But we were doing that all week in practice, so I think that was part of the confidence we had going into the game."
The Bengals halved two-time All-Pro returner Marvin Mims Jr's 17-yard average as Rehkow boomed it 50.4 yards per, dropping three inside the 20 and unleashing a 69-yarder. He also had a touchback and a 24-yarder.
"He got us out of some pickles. Impressive," Simmons said. "He's got to have a little more repeatability. In other positions, the most important thing is availability. But with a specialist, it's being able to do it again without the mis-hits. But he's really hit some big ones for us."
Rehkow understands the consistency aspect. But he's also pleased with how he bounced back from that first-punt shank.
"When we have as many hits as we do, you're going to have some of those every now and then," Rehkow said. "I was proud just to recover and get back on track. As a team, we did a really good job. Mims is a great returner, and we were able to contain him pretty well. A win for the punt team."
As for the stats that he now dominates, Rehkow peeks only once a week.
"I'll check after the game to get big-picture views," Rehkow said. "At the end of the day, for me it's more of a feeling. It's just nice to get off to a good start. Now I have to keep it going."