CINCINNATI (AP) – Peter Warrick caught the punt, scanned the field and spotted the crease.

With a quick burst, he slipped through a tackle and pulled clear, hoisting the ball above his head long before he reached the end zone. He couldn’t wait to celebrate his 68-yard return.

Warrick is a playmaker again.

“He does a little bit of everything,” offensive tackle Willie Anderson said. “The big plays are coming now. Things are happening great for Peter. Peter is one of those guys you love for things to happen to because he’s always doing the dirty work.”

When the Bengals drafted Warrick in the first round in 2000, they expected him to give NFL defenses the slip. Instead, he slipped into the NFL’s abyss. Now, just like his team, Warrick is starting to emerge. His punt return for a touchdown and 77-yard TD catch Sunday helped Cincinnati upset previously unbeaten Kansas City.

“I was trying to bring a little ‘P-Dub’ back from Florida State,” Warrick said, using his nickname.

The Bengals (5-5) are tied for first place in the AFC North heading into Sunday’s game at San Diego. The victory over the Chiefs was the Bengals’ biggest game in 13 years and won Warrick player of the week honors for the first time in his career.

“He’s the guy that everyone wanted to see,” coach Marvin Lewis said.

Everyone was watching when Warrick arrived from Florida State, where his ability to elude tacklers produced big plays and a national championship. In Cincinnati, he became invisible. The Bengals put Warrick on the field with first-year starting quarterback Akili Smith and another rookie receiver, Florida State teammate Ron Dugans. With no experience, the passing game went nowhere. The Bengals kept changing quarterbacks in his first three seasons, moving from Smith to Scott Mitchell to Jon Kitna to Gus Frerotte to Smith again and back to Kitna.

Warrick got lost in the shuffle.

“He came in as the fourth pick in the draft, and people expected him to put up all kinds of crazy numbers,” Anderson said. “He’s been through so many quarterbacks here that he’s never had that chance. Now they’re giving him a chance, and it seems every week he’s doing something to ignite the club.”

Although receiver Chad Johnson leads the team in catches (55), yards (881) and win guarantees (one), Warrick has quietly stayed close. He has 52 catches for 578 yards, matches Johnson with five touchdown catches and is the team’s third-leading rusher with 126 yards on reverses.

Warrick also is one of the Bengals’ best blockers, a trait that teammates appreciate.

He had a career-high 114 yards on six catches against the Chiefs, including that 77-yard play that showed how far he has come. Kitna saw him with single coverage down the middle of the field and threw it, trusting that Warrick would play it properly.

He did, making the catch and then a 360-degree spin to break free from cornerback Eric Warfield. Two years ago, that play couldn’t have happened.

“When I first got here, I knew where they were supposed to be, so I threw it to where they were supposed to be,” Kitna said. “Well, sometimes they weren’t getting there. Now they’re there.

“The classic example is that play to Peter for a touchdown the other day. I had never thrown him that ball ever, but I trusted that he was going to do it.”

Lewis also has trusted Warrick to return punts, even though he sometimes showed bad judgment early in the season. He fielded one punt in the end zone and ran it out.

Lewis sensed that if he stuck with Warrick, he’d see something special.

“I felt a couple of weeks ago that every time we made them punt, Pete thought he was going to run it back for a touchdown,” Lewis said. “The guy is very confident.”

So confident that he predicted he’d score against Kansas City, telling teammate T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

“I told T.J. on the sideline, ‘I’m about to seal this with a kiss,”‘ Warrick said. “He said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘Just watch.”‘

Everyone’s watching him once again. AP-ES-11-21-03 1536EST