For the first time since he was a sophomore in high school, tight end Kyle Rudolph played a game at Paul Brown Stadium last night.

But the Cincinnati native was held without a catch in the two series the Vikings' first-team offense played. He was targeted once.

"[Offensive coordinator] Norv [Turner] gave me opportunities," Rudolph said. "But we just weren't able to put them together."

Twenty minutes after the exhibition ended, Rudolph was still simmering about how the first-team offense played against the Bengals. That unit had a long touchdown drive against mostly second-stringers but the Vikings went three-and-out against Cincinnati's starters.

"We had two good days of practice and not a very good game. It's great for me to get to come home, but the bottom line is we need to go out and play better football," he said. "Yeah, we moved the ball against their twos. That's great. But we need to be better than that on offense."

Still, overall this week back in his hometown was a cool experience for Rudolph, especially with the Vikings winning, 17-16.

"It's a lot of fun," the 26-year-old said earlier this week. "To be back, it brings back a ton of memories of growing up here."

Rudolph, who starred at nearby Elder High, hosted family, friends and some of his old high school coaches at the joint practices with the Bengals on Wednesday and Thursday. He got a little downtime to see family Thursday night, too, and had some of them in for Friday night's game.

Before the game, Rudolph said it would be a thrill to finally play his first NFL game, albeit a preseason game, back in his hometown. He missed a regular-season Vikings loss to the Bengals in 2013 due to a broken foot.

"It was brutal because I knew we wouldn't be back here for eight years for a real game," the former Notre Dame star said. "So it was hard to watch but I'm glad I got the opportunity to come back now and play."