Monday, November 15, 1999There was Mack, then nothing special
99-yard kickoff return lone highlight
BY TOM GROESCHEN
The Cincinnati EnquirerTremain Mack jarred the snoozing Bengals crowd out of its seats with his 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown Sunday. For a moment, if just a moment, Cinergy Field was The Jungle again.
Fireworks boomed overhead, fans excitedly slapped palms and backs, and the Bengals were suddenly down just 14-7 as the third quarter began.
But that was about it, as Mack's TD highlighted another wildly uneven day by the Bengals' special teams.
“I thought it would give the team a lift, but we didn't capitalize on it,” Mack said. “It was good to break one, but we didn't win.”
Mack has now produced the Bengals' longest play in both 1998 and '99. He returned a kickoff 97 yards for a TD at Baltimore on Sept. 27, 1998, but the Bengals lost that one, too.
Outside of Mack, who returned another kickoff 53 yards Sunday — the Bengals went three-and-out after that one — the special teams weren't much help. The list included:
• Damon Griffin fumbled a kickoff return and was penalized 15 yards for unnecessary roughness while on the punt coverage team. It was his third fumbled return of the season.
• Punter Will Brice averaged just 37.2 yards per kick. Brice, ranked 26th in the NFL, shanked a 16-yarder in the second quarter. He put two punts inside the 20-yard line, but spec ulation grows that Brad Costello will re-sign when eligible to return from injury Nov. 23.
• Placekicker Doug Pelfrey missed a 32-yard field goal at the halftime gun, then was booed. Pelfrey had seemingly come out of a slump, having made his four previous field goal attempts.
Pelfrey's five missed field goals entering Sunday were tied for the most misfires in the AFC. Sunday, Pelfrey had no excuses after his 32-yarder sailed about a foot wide to the right.
“The wind was howling to the right, and I was trying to hit it a little bit right-center to make it go through,” he said. “But it stayed straight. There was nothing wrong with the snap or hold, I just didn't hit it exactly right. I should make that kick.”
In a year where the Bengals have had two punts blocked, two others deflected, an 84-yard punt return on them for a TD, and numerous fumbled returns, Mack's big return marked some rare fun.
And even that was an adven ture.
Mack's return, on the opening play of the second half, at first appeared to stall around his own 40-yard line. A crowd of Titans converged on Mack, and he appeared to be going down.
“There were a bunch of people grabbing on me and I tried to keep my balance,” he said.
He started to brace himself, bending at the knees to let the tacklers bury him. But then a funny thing happened.
Nothing.
“When I realized I wasn't down yet, I just came out of there and looked for people to fall over the top of me, so I kind of crouched up,” Mack said. “Nobody got me, so I kept on running.”
Mack burst out of the pack, with nothing but AstroTurf ahead.
Despite two suspensions in the past two years for alcohol-related violations, Mack — when healthy — is the best kickoff returner in Bengals history. He entered this year with the Bengals season and career kickoff return records, at 25.9 yards per return.
His 99-yard return is second-longest in Bengals history, to Eric Bieniemy's 102-yarder in 1997.
LONGEST RETURNS
Bengals' longest kickoff returns:• 102 yards, Eric Bieniemy, 10-26-97 at NY Giants (TD)
• 99 yards, Tremain Mack, 11-14-99 vs. Tennessee (TD)
• 98 yards, Stanford Jennings, 11-13-88 at Kan. City (TD)
• 97 yards, Willie Shelby, 10-3-76 at Cleveland (TD)
• 97 yards, Tremain Mack, 9-27-98 at Baltimore (TD)
Bengals Stories
Titans 24, Bengals 14
Too much Mike Brown, not enough talent
Dillon's frustration boiling
There was Mack, then nothing special
BENGALS NOTEBOOK
George: Big back has big day
Titans-Bengals statistics
Kenner injury not serious
OSU bowl streak could end at 11 years
AIA 66, Miami 57
Brawl (mars) enlivens game
Saint John 4, Mighty Ducks 1