Bengals Kicker Evan McPherson on Struggles, Importance of Bye Week
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00:00for you to kind of recalibrate?
00:01Yeah, I was telling Dan,
00:04bye came at a fantastic time for this team.
00:06I feel like, I feel like it just rejuvenated the spirit.
00:09Obviously we've got the ping pong tables
00:11back in the locker room.
00:11Everybody's excited about that.
00:13I just get to compete and not just football.
00:17And I feel like, yeah,
00:19it just rejuvenated everybody's spirit and we're excited
00:21and we're treating this like a whole new season.
00:24And these games coming up,
00:25I think are probably the most important of the year.
00:27For you personally, was it a good time for it?
00:28Because sometimes when you have a game like that,
00:30maybe you want to get right back out there
00:31and kind of shake that off.
00:34I mean, personally,
00:35I felt like Dubai came at a perfect spot for me.
00:38Personally, I really enjoyed just, you know,
00:41getting back to Fort Payne.
00:42Like I said, my wife's mom,
00:46she has a place up on the mountain, no cell service.
00:48And so I was totally unplugged for the week.
00:51And it was just, you know, it was a great time
00:53just spending with family.
00:54Me and my wife are from the same hometown.
00:56So I get to spend time with my parents.
00:59I get to spend time with her family
00:59and kind of have early Thanksgiving,
01:01just enjoy each other.
01:02And it was really fun.
01:04Are you sensing a theme this year on any of your missed kicks
01:08when you've went back and looked at it with Darren?
01:10Like, has it been the same thing
01:12or does each one tell a different story?
01:14Yeah, I mean, for the most part, my miss has been left.
01:16And for me, that's kind of interesting
01:19and kind of confusing at the same time.
01:21My whole career since I've started kicking,
01:23my miss has always been right.
01:25And for these to be left, you know,
01:28it's pretty interesting for me.
01:29And so I feel like the bye week and then this week,
01:33my focus is just figuring that out
01:36and figuring out what I'm doing wrong
01:37and trying to make corrections.
01:40None of us are, wait, none of us are kickers.
01:42So can you walk us through, like, when it's,
01:45you're saying it's going left, it's weird for you.
01:48Like, what are you breaking down as to why that's happening?
01:51Yeah, well, usually right footed kicker
01:54has a right miss normally,
01:57just because you're a little late,
01:58you're hitting it with your leg a little bent
02:01and you're not catching it clean.
02:03I mean, you're not fully locked out.
02:04And so the ball is just kind of weak
02:06and fast spinning off to the right.
02:08But left, you can kind of come into play
02:10like your toe can wrap.
02:13You could pull a little harder
02:15and just tug it a little bit, is what I say.
02:19So yeah, I mean, I feel like for righty,
02:22normal miss is right,
02:24just from not pulling through harder than you usually do.
02:27But maybe I'm just overcompensating
02:29and swinging a little too hard.
02:30What has the mental part of this been like for you, Evan?
02:32Do you do a mental reset?
02:34No, I mean, mentally it's been just fine for me.
02:38I haven't, I feel like I haven't
02:41felt negatively about this season.
02:43I feel like I'm hitting the ball well.
02:46I'm just not putting the ball where it needs to go.
02:48And so mentally I feel like, you know,
02:51I should just continue doing what I'm doing,
02:54but just find those little things here and there
02:56that are going to help me put the ball through the upright.
02:58And I feel like it's walking out there
03:01with a little more confidence in myself
03:04and knowing that day in, day out, practice, pregame,
03:07you know, I do the same thing as I do during the game.
03:10So just really understanding
03:13and not overthinking kind of what I'm doing.
03:16Do you think you're in a good mental place?
03:18Yeah, I think I'm in a fantastic mental place.
03:19I think my wife and my daughter definitely help with that.
03:23Just going home to her every day,
03:25and she doesn't care if I go 0 for 5 in a game
03:29or 5 for 5 and hit a game winner.
03:31You know, she's still going to treat me the same
03:33and just know me as dad.
03:35So I feel like having her this year has been wonderful
03:39just because if I do have a bad day at practice or a game,
03:42I get to go home and just enjoy that time.
03:46How much reflecting did you do during the bye week on it?
03:49So I feel like everybody during a bye is,
03:51you think about it on maybe like Monday, Tuesday,
03:54and then you just kind of shut everything off.
03:55You don't even think football.
03:57Like I said, I played a lot of golf over the bye week
04:00and just enjoyed that time with my family,
04:03just getting to walk the golf course
04:05and meet new people out at the golf course
04:08and just kind of hang out and chill.
04:10But I feel like you think about it
04:11and reflect on it early on,
04:13and then you just kind of let it go and just relax.
04:16Because, I mean, you got seven more weeks of regular season.
04:20And so, I mean, this is all we're going to think about
04:23for seven weeks.
04:24I feel like for the most part during the bye,
04:25you're just trying to unplug from football.
04:29When you go back and you look at the missed field goals,
04:32is that something mentally tough for you,
04:34seeing the misses?
04:35Because it's not like you're watching success
04:37in those points.
04:38Yeah, you know, I think you learn a lot from the misses.
04:41And I think I've expressed before is like,
04:43whenever you are struggling,
04:44I feel like you learn a lot more about yourself
04:46and your fight and kind of your will to win.
04:50And you either got to figure it out
04:52or you're probably not going to be playing anymore.
04:55So I think that's kind of to the point where I'm at,
04:58is like, I got to figure it out.
04:59I got to figure out
05:00and I got to put the ball through the uprights
05:02and help this team win these next seven games.
05:04You still have confidence?
05:06Yeah.
05:07Go ahead.
05:08You still have the utmost confidence in yourself
05:09that say it's a tie game,
05:11three seconds left on the clock,
05:13you can go out 50 plus yards and put one through?
05:16Yeah, no, certainly.
05:17I feel like I'm always going to have confidence in myself.
05:20And I feel like I build that in practice and pre-game
05:24and just knowing that those kicks in the game
05:26are no different than those.
05:28And so just really dialing in practice
05:32is kind of my priority
05:33and just getting ready for the game.
05:36Since you were unplugged Sunday,
05:39you probably missed some of the chaotic kicking that-
05:43Yeah.
05:44And I don't know if that kind of,
05:46does that help you in knowing that
05:49you weren't the only guy going through stuff?
05:52No, I mean, I always hate to see guys do bad.
05:54And I feel like all kickers are kind of similar.
05:57It's like we all want each other to succeed and do well.
06:01We hate when one guy misses an important kick
06:04and you feel for those guys and what they're going through.
06:07And I assume everybody's got great teammates around them
06:09to build them up and not tear them down.
06:12You just kind of hope the fan base does the same thing.
06:16Everybody screws up, so.
06:17I mean, you're not rooting for anybody to screw up,
06:19but it does seem like you've got company.
06:23Yeah.
06:24Yeah, I mean, everybody struggles.
06:25Everybody goes through their struggles,
06:28but I feel like usually everybody bounces back pretty well.