McPherson Perspective

[*SHRacerX*]

I know everyone wanted that Green Bay game that was seemingly gifted to them several times, only to see it not come to fruition. I wanted to offer a different perspective:

Watching it again, I hadn't originally noticed that the 57 yard attempt that hit the upright hit that upright almost 3/4 of the way up the post. I don't have a formula, but it looks to me that had it been dead center (an important upgrade), that the kick could have been good for over 65 yards.

The second miss hit the flag on the left post. Yes, the flags are located at the very top of those posts. I have no idea if that would have been the same 65 yards or possibly more.

I believe why Evan missed both kicks, but especially the second one where he was sure it went it, was because he kicked it SO HIGH , that once the ball started to lose velocity the winds at the higher elevation are stronger and the ball seemed to push toward the east (on both kicks) at the very end of its flight. It was a fairly windy day at PBS and from someone that had front row seats in the 300 section for 20 years, it does get pretty breezy up there.

I am sure Evan and Darrin Simmons have noted that and will make the right adjustments. Yes, he practices those kicks in warmups but the energy of a potentially game-winning kick probably hit it even harder.

He is in a dome this weekend, but I have great optimism for Evan in the long run. I simply can't believe the distance those two kicks possibly could have traveled. Save the sarcastic responses about distance without accuracy being pointless. I get it. It is like my drive in golf. It goes a mile, but rarely straight. Evan isn't that. At that distance, the slightest degree off with any wind can force a miss. I just am amazed at his potential range.

[HarleyDog]

Good points Racer. I’m not overly worried about the missed game winning kick. I thought he had it too. He will learn from this and be a great kicker in the league. My torches are safely locked away with the pitchfork in the shed. TBH, not many kickers would have made that kick without wind.

[Nicomo Cosca]

Yep. Too much leg on both of them. And both couldn’t have been any closer. It’s not like he shanked them. Obviously the wind was a factor with Crosby missing so many as well. The one Evan hit the flag with was crazy. I’ve literally never seen that in my life.

[Rubekahn29]

I think I’d be more upset if the other kicker didn’t also miss 4 other kicks (3 fg, 1 xp). It was such a weird day for kicks. And some of Crosby misses were brutal looking.

[Sled21]

The PBS winds were doing their thing that day for sure. GB's kicker is very reliable and has been kicking for a very long time. For them both to be missing, and mostly to the left, it shows the winds were affecting the kicks.

[*michaelsean*]

The second one looked right down the middle until like the goal line.

[*ochocincos*]

(10-14-2021, 07:26 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: I know everyone wanted that Green Bay game that was seemingly gifted to them several times, only to see it not come to fruition.  I wanted to offer a different perspective:

Watching it again, I hadn't originally noticed that the 57 yard attempt that hit the upright hit that upright almost 3/4 of the way up the post.  I don't have a formula, but it looks to me that had it been dead center (an important upgrade), that the kick could have been good for over 65 yards.  

The second miss hit the flag on the left post.  Yes, the flags are located at the very top of those posts.  I have no idea if that would have been the same 65 yards or possibly more.

I believe why Evan missed both kicks, but especially the second one where he was sure it went it, was because he kicked it SO HIGH , that once the ball started to lose velocity the winds at the higher elevation are stronger and the ball seemed to push toward the east (on both kicks) at the very end of its flight.  It was a fairly windy day at PBS and from someone that had front row seats in the 300 section for 20 years, it does get pretty breezy up there.  

I am sure Evan and Darrin Simmons have noted that and will make the right adjustments.  Yes, he practices those kicks in warmups but the energy of a potentially game-winning kick probably hit it even harder.  

He is in a dome this weekend, but I have great optimism for Evan in the long run.  I simply can't believe the distance those two kicks possibly could have traveled.  Save the sarcastic responses about distance without accuracy being pointless.  I get it.  It is like my drive in golf.  It goes a mile, but rarely straight.  Evan isn't that.  At that distance, the slightest degree off with any wind can force a miss.  I just am amazed at his potential range.

Agree with all of it.
I remember seeing a tweet before the game started that mentioned how windy it was and how difficult it would be to make kicks.
The coaching staff should have factored this into their decision when deciding whether to attempt long FGs or try to get the conversion.

[Wes Mantooth]

I was pretty shocked to see the number of people that were down on McPherson after the game. Don't get me wrong, I understand being disappointed he couldn't hit one of the two he missed but saying things like we need a new kicker or he wasn't worth the pick is absolutely absurd.

The 57 yarder I can't fault him at all for. Yeah, it would have been a fanstatic kick, and it does it get made occassionally. But I can't rag on any kicker who misses a 55+ yard field goal.

The 49 yarder, well I would like to see him make that. But guess what? Guys miss those quite a bit. I'm not going to go nuts because he missed one of them. Now if it becomes a reoccuring thing, where's he's missing 45+ field goals all of the time, then I'm going to wonder why we drafted a kicker who can't ever make those. But missing only one? That's how it goes for kickers sometimes.

Also, I saw someone say something about him not being as good as Justin Tucker. I laughed. You could draft the #1 kicker in the draft each and every year for the next 10 years, and the chances of you finding the next Justin Tucker are probably less than 10%. He's arguably the greatest kicker of all time. You can't compare every rookie to him and deem them a bust because they're not as good.

I think everyone just needs to calm down a bit. The kid has shown to have plenty of leg. He's made a few big kicks already. He's only got 3 missed and 1 of them was from from a range where it's missed more than it's made. Another (49 yarder) was borderline, and another should have been made. All in all, he's done pretty well. There's absolutely no reason to sour on the kid.

Just my 2 cents...

[Truck_1_0_1_]

(10-14-2021, 08:04 AM)Rubekahn29 Wrote: I think I’d be more upset if the other kicker didn’t also miss 4 other kicks (3 fg, 1 xp). It was such a weird day for kicks. And some of Crosby misses were brutal looking.

(10-14-2021, 08:05 AM)Sled21 Wrote: The PBS winds were doing their thing that day for sure. GB's kicker is very reliable and has been kicking for a very long time. For them both to be missing, and mostly to the left, it shows the winds were affecting the kicks.

I'm all-in on Evan (and yes, both misses were the closest to fluke you can get), but the notion that Crosby is a good kicker, is a blatantly-false one.

Indeed, he has been kicking for a long time, but he has never been a top kicker in the league:

- He is only 4 spots above Nuge' and 17 spots below Fat Randy, for career FG% (he sits at 47, if you're wondering) and for active players, is 25th.
- He's not clutch in the slightest and, according to this list (2015 it was published), Nuge' and PELFREY were more clutch than Crosby: https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2015/best-clutch-kicker-ever
- He kicks one of the ugliest balls I've ever seen and ugly balls typically don't make it through consistently, unless the kick is right down the middle.
- Most-egregious of all, he is ***74th*** in all-time XP%. That is deplorable. I know they moved back the XP line in 2015, but he has been consistently one of the worst XP kickers in the league.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/C/CrosMa20.htm

It's one of the really confusing things in the whole league; he must be a great lockerroom guy or the GB brass really like him or something, because he's NEVER been one of the top kickers in any season; I think that can be attested as he's never made a PB or been AP, despite leading the league in points.

[XenoMorph]

(10-14-2021, 08:04 AM)Rubekahn29 Wrote: I think I’d be more upset if the other kicker didn’t also miss 4 other kicks (3 fg, 1 xp). It was such a weird day for kicks. And some of Crosby misses were brutal looking.

Right with Crosby missing that many i cut McPherson a little slack...

I was just happy someone made it eventually.

[Rubekahn29]

(10-14-2021, 10:13 AM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: I'm all-in on Evan (and yes, both misses were the closest to fluke you can get), but the notion that Crosby is a good kicker, is a blatantly-false one.

Indeed, he has been kicking for a long time, but he has never been a top kicker in the league:

- He is only 4 spots above Nuge' and 17 spots below Fat Randy, for career FG% (he sits at 47, if you're wondering) and for active players, is 25th.
- He's not clutch in the slightest and, according to this list (2015 it was published), Nuge' and PELFREY were more clutch than Crosby: https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2015/best-clutch-kicker-ever
- He kicks one of the ugliest balls I've ever seen and ugly balls typically don't make it through consistently, unless the kick is right down the middle.
- Most-egregious of all, he is ***74th*** in all-time XP%. That is deplorable. I know they moved back the XP line in 2015, but he has been consistently one of the worst XP kickers in the league.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/C/CrosMa20.htm

It's one of the really confusing things in the whole league; he must be a great lockerroom guy or the GB brass really like him or something, because he's NEVER been one of the top kickers in any season; I think that can be attested as he's never made a PB or been AP, despite leading the league in points.

I wasn’t saying he was a good kicker, but 4 kicks is rough even for the worst kickers.

[*ochocincos*]

(10-14-2021, 10:13 AM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: I'm all-in on Evan (and yes, both misses were the closest to fluke you can get), but the notion that Crosby is a good kicker, is a blatantly-false one.

Indeed, he has been kicking for a long time, but he has never been a top kicker in the league:

- He is only 4 spots above Nuge' and 17 spots below Fat Randy, for career FG% (he sits at 47, if you're wondering) and for active players, is 25th.
- He's not clutch in the slightest and, according to this list (2015 it was published), Nuge' and PELFREY were more clutch than Crosby: https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2015/best-clutch-kicker-ever
- He kicks one of the ugliest balls I've ever seen and ugly balls typically don't make it through consistently, unless the kick is right down the middle.
- Most-egregious of all, he is ***74th*** in all-time XP%. That is deplorable. I know they moved back the XP line in 2015, but he has been consistently one of the worst XP kickers in the league.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/C/CrosMa20.htm

It's one of the really confusing things in the whole league; he must be a great lockerroom guy or the GB brass really like him or something, because he's NEVER been one of the top kickers in any season; I think that can be attested as he's never made a PB or been AP, despite leading the league in points.

While Crosby may be lower career-wise, he was 100% on FG attempts last year with a long of 57.
The year before that, he was 91% with a long of 54.

[*PhilHos*]

(10-14-2021, 08:04 AM)Rubekahn29 Wrote: I think I’d be more upset if the other kicker didn’t also miss 4 other kicks (3 fg, 1 xp). It was such a weird day for kicks. And some of Crosby misses were brutal looking.

Exactly how I feel.

(10-14-2021, 10:10 AM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: I was pretty shocked to see the number of people that were down on McPherson after the game. 

It's like they forget he's a rookie 5 games into his NFL career and has already made 2 game winners. They expected him to be Justin Tucker right out the gate and now he missed 2 on Sunday, they're "done" with him and already regret "wasting" a draft pick on them. They're just morons, plain and simple.

[Truck_1_0_1_]

(10-14-2021, 10:31 AM)Rubekahn29 Wrote: I wasn’t saying he was a good kicker, but 4 kicks is rough even for the worst kickers.

I know you weren't; I included your post for backup, as you saw the same ugliness I did

(10-14-2021, 10:34 AM)ochocincos Wrote: While Crosby may be lower career-wise, he was 100% on FG attempts last year with a long of 57.
The year before that, he was 91% with a long of 54.

That's fine, but I'm looking at whole body of work.

And that's only attempting 24 and **16** kicks, respectively. Come on now.

Fat Randy kicked DOUBLE that, 2 years ago, missed 4 (87%) and also hit a 57 yarder. His balls-kicked were also just as ugly as Crsoby's.

The guy is nothing more than a league-average kicker at best.

[bengalguy71]

Here are excerpts from an article where Darrin Simmons and Doug Pelfrey (ex-Bengal kicker) weigh in:

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.

[*ochocincos*]

(10-14-2021, 10:41 AM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: I know you weren't; I included your post for backup, as you saw the same ugliness I did


That's fine, but I'm looking at whole body of work.

And that's only attempting 24 and **16** kicks, respectively. Come on now.

Fat Randy kicked DOUBLE that, 2 years ago, missed 4 (87%) and also hit a 57 yarder. His balls-kicked were also just as ugly as Crsoby's.

The guy is nothing more than a league-average kicker at best.

The Packers must think he's been good enough to keep around for 15 years.
Most average kickers don't last that long, especially with the same team.

[bengalguy71]

(10-14-2021, 10:34 AM)PhilHos Wrote: Exactly how I feel.


It's like they forget he's a rookie 5 games into his NFL career and has already made 2 game winners. They expected him to be Justin Tucker right out the gate and now he missed 2 on Sunday, they're "done" with him and already regret "wasting" a draft pick on them. They're just MORONS, plain and simple.

I fixed your post. 

[bengalguy71]

IF he stays healthy and the Bengals keep him and the franchise is around 12 years from now, he'll be the new all time scoring leader for the Bengals instead of Jim Breech!

[*PhilHos*]

(10-14-2021, 11:06 AM)bengalguy71 Wrote: I fixed your post. 

Thanks.

[bengalguy71]

(10-14-2021, 11:17 AM)PhilHos Wrote: Thanks.