10-13-2021, 05:20 PM
Doug Pelfrey weighs in:
"I'm not going to bother him. He's doing great. I was just telling somebody the other day that he's going to break every record that me and Jim and Shayne set," Pelfrey says. "He's already hit some from 50 and he's got two winners. He's going to be one of the greats.
"The thing about Evan is that everyone expected him to make those kicks. That's the blessing and the curse," Pelfrey says. "How cool would that have been? They would have had four wins and he would have won three of them."
Like all kickers of all shoe sizes, Pelfrey had to bounce back from a miss. His most visible clutch kick would have been in Shula Bowl II in 1995 at Riverfront, the second meeting between Bengals head coach Dave Shula and his father, legendary Dolphins head coach Don Shula, in an encore of North America's first major sports event coached by father and son.
With eight seconds left, Pelfrey could have put it into overtime on a 45-yarder he shoved left and then out of his head.
"Hooked it," Pelfrey says. "Breech helped me with that. He was in my ear like a swing coach in golf. When you make it to the NFL level like Evan, 99 out of 100 times there's nothing wrong with his technique. I would say it's what's going on between your ears. You stay positive. You stay upbeat. He's got great people around him. When you start listening to everybody else, you get in trouble."
Simmons is going to change not a thing. Especially when he watched the Pelfrey-like veteran Crosby miss four kicks on the other side.
"He'll learn from it. He'll grow from it and he'll be fine. I don't worry about him one bit," Simmons says of his prized rookie. "I think the wind was a little bit different up above than maybe what we felt down below. It is what it is. It was the same for both sides."
"It depends on where the wind is coming from. If it's from the north or south. It depends a little on that," Simmons says. "Sometimes it's hard to know which way the wind is blowing, especially when you can't feel it. You're used to feeling the wind. When you don't feel a lot down on the field, it's different what was actually happening up above. I think the ball got affected more on top of the upright than it did down on the field."
Pelfrey sees more of those in McPherson's future.
"He's got the leg. The Bengals are on an uptick. They've got three wins. He's got a coach that believes in him. He's got a coach in Darrin that knows more about kicking than most NFL special teams coaches," Pelfrey says. "He's got a great long snapper in Clark Harris and a great holder in Kevin Huber. The fans are with him."
Don't underestimate the snapper and the holder. When Pelfrey had Greg Truitt snapping to Lee Johnson holding, he hit 81 percent of his kicks. Starting when Truitt blew out his knee in 1998, Johnson's last year with the Bengals, Pelfrey hit 68 percent of his kicks in '98 and '99 and he was out of the league in 2000.
"I was playing ring around the rosy with different holders and snappers and two years later you were talking to somebody bigger and better," Pelfrey says.
But no one as clutch. Although he thinks McPherson is already on his way.
"He'll probably make his next 20 kicks," Pelfrey says. "No problem for him."
"I'm not going to bother him. He's doing great. I was just telling somebody the other day that he's going to break every record that me and Jim and Shayne set," Pelfrey says. "He's already hit some from 50 and he's got two winners. He's going to be one of the greats.
"The thing about Evan is that everyone expected him to make those kicks. That's the blessing and the curse," Pelfrey says. "How cool would that have been? They would have had four wins and he would have won three of them."
Like all kickers of all shoe sizes, Pelfrey had to bounce back from a miss. His most visible clutch kick would have been in Shula Bowl II in 1995 at Riverfront, the second meeting between Bengals head coach Dave Shula and his father, legendary Dolphins head coach Don Shula, in an encore of North America's first major sports event coached by father and son.
With eight seconds left, Pelfrey could have put it into overtime on a 45-yarder he shoved left and then out of his head.
"Hooked it," Pelfrey says. "Breech helped me with that. He was in my ear like a swing coach in golf. When you make it to the NFL level like Evan, 99 out of 100 times there's nothing wrong with his technique. I would say it's what's going on between your ears. You stay positive. You stay upbeat. He's got great people around him. When you start listening to everybody else, you get in trouble."
Simmons is going to change not a thing. Especially when he watched the Pelfrey-like veteran Crosby miss four kicks on the other side.
"He'll learn from it. He'll grow from it and he'll be fine. I don't worry about him one bit," Simmons says of his prized rookie. "I think the wind was a little bit different up above than maybe what we felt down below. It is what it is. It was the same for both sides."
"It depends on where the wind is coming from. If it's from the north or south. It depends a little on that," Simmons says. "Sometimes it's hard to know which way the wind is blowing, especially when you can't feel it. You're used to feeling the wind. When you don't feel a lot down on the field, it's different what was actually happening up above. I think the ball got affected more on top of the upright than it did down on the field."
Pelfrey sees more of those in McPherson's future.
"He's got the leg. The Bengals are on an uptick. They've got three wins. He's got a coach that believes in him. He's got a coach in Darrin that knows more about kicking than most NFL special teams coaches," Pelfrey says. "He's got a great long snapper in Clark Harris and a great holder in Kevin Huber. The fans are with him."
Don't underestimate the snapper and the holder. When Pelfrey had Greg Truitt snapping to Lee Johnson holding, he hit 81 percent of his kicks. Starting when Truitt blew out his knee in 1998, Johnson's last year with the Bengals, Pelfrey hit 68 percent of his kicks in '98 and '99 and he was out of the league in 2000.
"I was playing ring around the rosy with different holders and snappers and two years later you were talking to somebody bigger and better," Pelfrey says.
But no one as clutch. Although he thinks McPherson is already on his way.
"He'll probably make his next 20 kicks," Pelfrey says. "No problem for him."
