The Cincinnati Bengals’ struggles in kick coverage were present well before Denver returner Trindon Holliday ripped off a 105-yard touchdown in the Broncos’ 31-23 win Sunday.

The Bengals rank 29^th out of 32 NFL teams in yards allowed per kickoff return (29.1), an area where they were one of the best in the league last year, ranking third at 20.8.

“The fact that we have four rookies on there now, that’s a little bit of a change,” Bengals special teams coach Darrin Simmons said when asked about the unit’s struggles at the midway point of the season.

“Plus I think we faced a hell of a bunch of kick returners a bunch of weeks in a row,” Simmons continued. “I looked at it. I studied it hard through the bye. We came up with a couple little things and made things simpler than what we had been doing. Simpler reads, simpler positions that we were in. We still didn’t make the play.”

Holliday’s 105-yard TD, which gave the Broncos a 17-3 lead 11 seconds into the second half, equaled the longest play against the Bengals in franchise history and marked the fourth game in a row in which Cincinnati has allowed an average of 30 yards per return. It also was the third game in a row in which the team gave up a return of at least 41 yards.

“It’s just a matter of getting a couple of these young guys better and a couple of our veteran players need to make more plays,” Simmons said.

But it hasn’t all been bad news for the special teams. Kick returner Brandon Tate nearly broke a couple against Denver. He finished with three returns for 105 yards, upping his season average to 25.7, which ranks seventh in the NFL among players averaging at least two returns per game.

In his last three games Tate has eight returns for 275 yards (34.4). As a unit the Bengals are averaging 24.3 ypr this season, which ranks 16^th in the league, up from 24^th last year.

“I’m encouraged by where it’s at,” Simmons said. “(Tate) has been making plays there. He made plays against Pittsburgh. He made a couple more the other night. So that is a big positive, because we had not done well. We’ve gotten hotter, though, in the past couple of weeks and it’s got to continue. I am encouraged by it. We’re real close there.”

The Bengals rank seventh in the NFL in punt return average (11.5), mainly due to the after-effects from Adam Jones’ 81-yard TD in Week 2 against Cleveland. And the punt coverage unit ranks 11^th (8.1).

Punter Kevin Huber ranks 15th with a 46.8 average, but his net average of 41.6 puts him ninth.

“There was a time when a 40-yard net had never been done and now half of the teams do it,” Simmons said. “It doesn’t matter what he averages, but what we do average net. That’s the big one.”

Kicker Mike Nugent missed a 46-yard field goal at the end of the first half Sunday that would have drawn the Bengals within 10-6, but it was only his second miss in 16 tries this season.