Doug Pelfrey was released by the Bengals on Aug.21 after spending seven seasons as the team's kicker, but he doesn't feel vindicated by their 0-6 start.

        “I'm still a Bengals fan,” said Pelfrey, who follows Bengals games on TV and radio. “I was a fan as a kid and all growing up. Just because they released me doesn't change that. I want them to turn it around.”

        Pelfrey, who is the No.2 scorer in Bengals history and once was ranked the most accurate kicker in NFL history, waits at his Florence, Ky., home for phone calls from other teams.

        He works out three times a week, and has extra time for his wife, Carla, their 7-month-old daughter, Deenie, and his local charity, Kicks for Kids.

        “That part is nice, but I keep thinking I'll be back in the league in no time,” he said. “It's frustrating. I'm ready to get back at it.”

        Pelfrey, 29, doesn't delight in the struggles of his Bengals successor, Neil Rackers, who is 3-for-8 on field-goal attempts.

        “I don't wish ill things to him,” Pelfrey said. “The misconception is I'm cheering every time he misses. He's obviously doing the best he can. He's still a good guy.”

        Pelfrey has worked out for four teams since the season started: Kansas City, the New York Jets, Jacksonville and Washington.

        “They all wanted to see where I was at,” he said. “I'm trying to dispel the fact I'm a poor kickoff guy, and that I can hold my own on field goals. I had four different holders and five different snappers in my last two years (with the Bengals). To a placekicker, that's everything.”

        Pelfrey said he made about 85 percent of his kicks in his Kansas City and New York workouts, and all six attempts in Jacksonville. But none of those was a tryout for an open job. In Washington, where Michael Husted was released as kicker, Pelfrey went “about 12-of-15” and was beaten out for the job by rookie Kris Heppner.

        “Washington was my best opportunity,” Pelfrey said. “I just didn't have my best day. The next day I made my first 23 kicks. If I did that in Washington, I'd have gotten the job.”

        Though a return to the Bengals wouldn't seem unthinkable — they brought back Jim Breech in 1989 after Jim Gallery started the season 2-of-6 — Pelfrey figures the odds are slim.

        “The fact they released me shows what they think of me,” he said. “I think I took a lot of undue criticism from them. No one backed me up when I struggled the last two years.”

        If he gets a job elsewhere, Pelfrey won't uproot his family.

        “This will always be home in the offseason,” he said. “Kicks for Kids is growing too fast (he has a core of 300 volunteers) to pull up.”

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