DaytonDailyNews.com

CINCINNATI — Bengals strong safety Kyries Hebert had one of those up-and-down days as if he were riding "The Beast" roller coaster at Kings Island.

One bad play offset two good plays, and all three contributed to Cincinnati's home-opening 24-7 loss to the Tennessee Titans in front of 64,540 spectators, many of whom flooded the exit gates early in the fourth quarter.

After getting flagged 15 yards for fair catch interference when he crashed into Titans' punt returner Chris Carr, setting up Tennessee's first TD, Hebert bounced back with his aggressive style.

He deflected a Craig Hentrich punt that traveled 25 yards to Cincinnati's 37. Chris Perry tied the score at 7 on a 13-yard run 11 plays later.

Hebert then recovered Hentrich's fumble of a high snap on an aborted Titans' punt attempt at 13:25 of the third quarter, giving the Bengals the ball at Tennessee's 36.

But the drive stalled and Shayne Graham's 37-yard field goal attempt splattered against the right upright as Bengals couldn't claw into the Titans' 14-7 lead.

"It was a chance to redeem myself for messing up earlier with the interference call," Hebert said. "No matter how many big plays one person makes, we've got to count on one another.

"Just like the (deflected) punt I was fortunate enough to get my hands on. It was well-executed. It was drawn up well from the sidelines. All 11 guys executed the play to give me the opportunity to do that."

What happened on the fair catch interference?

"When (Carr) made his fair catch signal, my angle was to go around him," Hebert said. "But it was a very heavy wind out there and it was blowing in my direction. My angle needed to be adjusted because of the wind and that's for me to recognize.

"It blew the ball that way, which directly affected where he was going to be."

Hebert couldn't get out of harm's way.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2253 or cludwig@DaytonDailyNews.com.