CINCINNATI — It was somewhat of an iconic moment at Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles last month when Cincinnati Bengals kicker Evan McPherson was shown enjoying Dr. Dre’s halftime performance on the sidelines.
But, it turns out Bengals special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons didn’t think so, and he’s still not happy about it nearly a month later.
Instead of joining his teammates in the locker room during the big game, McPherson, 22, was out on the field watching the performance, giving the people quite the laugh.
However, Simmons told the The Athletic’s Jay Morrison on Thursday, “that’s a sore subject…that’s a real sore subject,” regarding McPherson’s halftime stunt.
While we may have had fun with it, it’s not exactly surprising his coach is upset about it.
However, it didn’t impact McPherson’s performance. After making a 29-yard field goal in the first half, McPherson made a 38-yard field goal in the second half to give the Bengals a 20-13 lead. McPherson went 2-for-2 in the game to finish off an incredible playoff run and season for the rookie kicker.
The Bengals selected McPherson out of Florida in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL Draft and he’s quickly made a name for himself as one of the NFL’s top placekickers.
McPherson made 16 field goals during the playoffs, setting a new NFL record. He had game-winning kicks vs. both the Titans and Chiefs to get to the Super Bowl.
He also set franchise records for most field goals in a single season for the Bengals and most field goals from 50 or more yards with 12.
In Morrison’s piece, Simmons said he wants to improve McPherson’s abilities on kickoffs.
“We certainly need to improve kickoffs, the consistency on kickoffs,” Simmons said, via The Athletic. “One of my major things this offseason is I’ve got to get his field goal leg to equate to what he does on kickoffs. He has a very, very powerful field goal leg. It’s not that he doesn’t have a powerful kickoff leg, but we’ve got to get that power transferred into kickoffs more consistently than we did this year.”