DaytonDailyNews.com

CINCINNATI — It was an afternoon lunch hour for the Cincinnati Bengals — a break between practice and meetings while preparing for Monday night's opener with the Baltimore Ravens — and some of the players lounging in their dressing quarters at Paul Brown Stadium took a few moments to talk about their Mane Man, The Hair Apparent on the defensive front, the guy veteran receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh simply summed up with a shake of the head and just one word:

"Wow!"

"The first time I laid eyes on him and even when I look at him now, it's the same thing," Houshmandzadeh said. "You see that hair — there's just so much of it — and all you can really say is 'Wow!'"

He was talking about Domata Peko, who will be the center of attention like never before Monday night when he takes over as a starter in the middle of the Bengals defensive line.

In the offseason the team jettisoned massive, veteran Sam Adams and elevated Peko, the 6-foot-3, 319-pound second-year defensive tackle from American Samoa by way of Michigan State.

The Monday Night Football stage means a national audience will certainly notice the always-motoring defender with the flopping tumbleweed of orangish-brown hair jutting out the rear of his helmet and halfway down his back.

"Oh yeah people will notice," running back Rudi Johnson said with a grin. "They're always asking, 'Who's the guy with the long hair?' It's his trademark, but I'll tell you one thing. When you got hair like that, you better be able to play. You don't want to be having that hair just sitting there on the sideline."

That hasn't happened with the 22-year-old Peko, who joined the team last year as a fourth-round draft pick and by season's end had seen his role increase dramatically.

As the spotlight begins to grow, one teammate — receiver Chad Johnson, the Bengals prime time peacock — had some suggestions:

"He and Troy (Pittsburgh defensive back Troy Polamalu) stand out because of their hair. Everybody else in the league with long hair has dreads. What Domata needs to do is start coloring it."

That kind of talk makes old-school teammate Willie Anderson shake his head.

"No, no, he's not trying to make a statement," said the 12-year offensive lineman turned instant sociologist. "That's the man's culture. That would be like coming to me and ... aaah ... asking me about my Jeri curls."

"Your Jeri curls?" Anderson was asked incredulously. "You're too young. You never had Jeri curls."

"No, but my momma did," he snapped. "And Peko — that's the way his hair was born ... Am I right, Levi?"

Fellow lineman Levi Jones nodded: "I'm from the Pac-10 and we played with and against a lot of Polynesian players. A lot of them have hair like that. That's their culture."

The Bengals have three players — Peko, defensive end Jonathan Fanene and rookie practice squad tackle Matt Toeaina — from American Samoa, the tiny group of volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean that has more NFL players per capita than any place on the globe.

Peko and Fanene have flowing locks, but Toeaina — who until two years ago had hair longer than Domata's — now sports a buzz cut.

Peko said he last cut his hair in 2002:

"My dad made me do it. It was before (high school) graduation and he didn't want long hair coming out of my (mortarboard). So he cut it all off. I was bald. He told me if I didn't do it, I wasn't going to be allowed to go play football in the U.S.

"And in our culture, you obey your parents. You show respect to your elders."

He's showing that same trait around the Bengals older players, said nine-year tackle John Thornton:

"He's a good enough player that he could come in and be brash but he asks questions and always defers to the veterans. You want to help a guy like that."

Anderson agreed: "The kid don't mean any harm to anybody in the world ... that is until he gets on the football field. Then he attacks, attacks, attacks. You want a guy like him to be a star and he will be. Everybody will be noticing him."

After all, he's the Mane Man.