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."

Ted Time

After emerging from the first Bengals game in 29 years in which they started two rookie guards, center and captain Ted Karras is bullish on right guard Jalen Rivers and left guard Dylan Fairchild.

After the Broncos racked up a league-leading 34 hits on the quarterback that included 14 each on the Chargers' Justin Herbert and the Titans' Cam Ward, they got to Jake Browning six times. The only hit from the interior came from a sack charged to Rivers, via stats from Pro Football Focus.

"We went up against a good Denver line that's killed people," Karras said. "I felt very good about how we handled their interior rush … Nothing inside … We have to do it again. This is a really good team. We have to put points on the board. That's priority one. We have to build off (last week) and grow and get better."

And he's pretty certain Rivers and Fairchild are headed in that direction. He agrees they complement each other with Fairchild, the block of granite, and Rivers, the rangy athlete who can kick out to tackle.

"I think for the health of this program, I think they're going to be the guard tandem for a better part of a decade. They're doing all the right things," Karras said. "Yeah, Dylan's big and strong, and he's really athletic, too. I think people underestimate the strength of Jalen Rivers. If you're trying to attack them at some point, I think these guys are up for the challenge."

Slants and Screens

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor and Lions head coach Dan Campbell go back farther than that 2015 Dolphins team, where Campbell was the interim head coach, Taylor moved up to offensive coordinator and Lou Anarumo moved up to defensive coordinator.

Five years before, to be exact.

When Campbell retired from his 11-year NFL career in 2009, his first stop looking for a coaching job was the 2010 Texas A&M Aggies, coached by Mike Sherman, Taylor's father-in-law. When Sherman was A&M's offensive line coach in the late '90s, Campbell was a tight end.

In 2010, Taylor, a lifelong quarterback, was admittedly a graduate assistant struggling with coaching tight ends. Sherman saw an opportunity and sent Campbell to Taylor's office ("See that closet?" is how Taylor remembers Sherman directing Campbell) and told him to tell Taylor everything he knew about the tight end position.

Just when Taylor became reliant on Campbell, Dolphins boss Bill Parcells, Campbell's coach in Dallas, swooped in and signed him as a coaching intern. On Sunday, no closets and no help.

"I've got a lot of respect for him. He's done an unbelievable job," Taylor said this week as he recalled the Bengals' 34-11 win over the Lions in Detroit during Campbell's first season that kept them winless at 0-6.

"I do reflect back on 2021 and his first year there … Knowing what they were building, you could tell. They played with a lot of undrafted free agents on defense. But you could just tell they had the identity of their coaching staff, the head coach, the way that they played. We got the best of them that day, but you could see something that was building in the future, whether people believed it at the time or not, it was very clear. Now you're here in 2025, and the success they've had over the years, and the success they've had this year, winning three in a row." …

Taylor ruled out rookie defensive lineman Shemar Stewart (ankle) for a third straight game, but he seemed to think there's an outside shot for him next week in Green Bay …

Wide receiver Charlie Jones (Achilles) didn't practice all week, but he's listed as questionable …