PLAY OF THE DAY

K Evan McPherson

The media mob around McPherson's locker would suggest his walk-off 52-yard field goal ended the Bengals' upcoming Thanksgiving Night game in Baltimore rather than Friday's third practice of training camp.

But with McPherson looking to re-capture his rookie magic as he begins his fifth season and head coach Zac Taylor looking to bring his team closer together in time for September, well, the media went where the story lurked.

It seems that Taylor, forever the cul-de-sac commissioner who made up every game imaginable growing up in Norman, Okla., is at it again. He's come up with a series of daily competitions in training camp, and right now the offense leads the defense, 3-1, after McPherson drilled it through with his trusty, re-discovered fade to end practice.

Before the kick, Taylor called them up, told them McPherson declared himself with the offense, and if he missed the defense would get a point, and it would be tied at 2. As towels swirled and the defense hooted, he made it 3-1, instead.

"It just felt good to see it go through," said McPherson, who didn't put enough through last year with a career-low 72.7 field-goal percentage. "It gets you excited to come in every day starting with a competition. I'm part of the offense. So, I kick off more than hit field goals or PATs. Just barely. But I'm part of the offense.

"That's been a big emphasis, too. He put in bigger pressure moments in practice so when it comes to games, been there, done that."

Here is McPherson, one of the most popular players in Bengals history with his laundry list of handkerchief kicks that wiped away tears of joy: Walk-off field goals to win the division and AFC. Not to mention winning a Ring of Honor game at the gun, as well as a Monday night slugfest in Jacksonville. 19-for-19 in the postseason.

And yet he's looking for a bounce-back season after last year's misfortune ended with a groin injury that wiped out his last five games.

It will be recalled he did have a 53-yard try next door against Baltimore last year that would have ended the game in overtime. But a mishandled snap led to a miss. A few weeks later in Los Angeles, he had fourth-quarter misses of 48 and 51 in a tie game the Chargers pulled out with a late touchdown.

But three days here, the ball is going straight. No misses in 11 tries this camp as he gets back to kicking the way he grew up. He's going back to his slight fade, and on Friday, with a stubborn right-to-left wind staring at him, he just did what had been natural up until the last few years and let the fade ride the breeze.

"I feel a lot more comfortable. My word for myself for this camp is just commit," McPherson said. "Less thoughts running through the mind right now for me."

What he's committed to is the stance and mentality he had kicking at Fort Payne High School in Alabama, at the University of Floria in college, and at the 2021 pro day in Gainesville where Bengals special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons was convinced to draft him.

"My second and third seasons, I focused more on hitting it straight. I've been like a draw-er of the football. A little right to left movement," McPherson said. "I always thought in the NFL you had to be more clean. End over end. Fly it straight because it gets pretty windy. This year I'm back to how I grew up kicking."

That meant, basically, closing up his stance again and attacking the holder more from the side. He had been working on straightening his plant foot, but in the spring workouts he twisted the ankle on a freak move during a kickoff. He still kicked with it, but in the 40 days leading up to camp, he worked on strengthening and mobility issues.

Now, it looks like he's back. Just quote Gracie McPherson, his toddler daughter. He's got several pictures of her in his locker with encouraging quotes in bubbles from her. Like, "This one is really good."

Print it. Her dad's 52-yarder on Friday was all that.

PLAYER OF THE DAY

QB Jake Browning

Joe Burrow’s backup showed Friday why cornerback DJ Ivey says, "Jake pretty much knows everything we're going to do. Maybe before we do. It's definitely difficult to disguise him. Going against Jake, you know you're going against a caliber of quarterback you're probably going to see on Sundays."

No pads yet as the Bengals went primarily red zone in team and seven-on-seven Friday, and both first- and second-team secondaries had a batch of good plays.

Burrow had his moments (Tee Higgins on a dipsy-do slant) while Browning point-guarded touchdowns to a diverse group ranging from six-year tight end Tanner Hudson on a scramble to a dime of a fade lofted to undrafted rookie wide receiver Jordan Moore.

Ivey, who was draped all over Moore, also noted two shots ("Right on point") Browning zipped to wide receiver Jermaine Burton in the seam of a Cover Two.

"When I'm out there with the twos, we're out there with guys who have been in the same offense for a long time," Browning said. "I got Tanner Hudson at the Y. That's pretty nice. He's played a lot of NFL football. I love throwing to Tanner Hudson. It seems like he's always open.

"I'm not even sure which year this is."

It's year five in Taylor's offense, and Browning knows how rare that is for a backup quarterback. He's never been that long in a system anywhere. When he was re-writing the California record book at Folsom High School or continuing Washington's stately tradition in Seattle, that was both four-year terms.

He knows training camp and preseason are basically the only chance he's going to get to play.

"Then I'll be running the Cleveland Browns offense," Browning said of the scout team. "It's nice to get the reps here."

Browning helped Hudson get open Friday. Browning saw he was covered on a corner route, looked away, and had good enough protection to make eye contact with Hudson as he scrambled just long enough for Hudson to come back to him.

"He's always the Player of the Day," Hudson said. "He's savvy, confident in his ability with any other starting quarterback. He's always in the playbook. He processes really well. The list goes on."

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Bengals CB Josh Newton on WR Ja’Marr Chase:

"I don't care if it's man-to-man or Cover 60, they're getting the ball to Ja'Marr."

SLANTS AND SCREENS

As they ease back Dax Hill (two snaps in the slot each Thursday and Friday), Newton is getting the bulk of the reps inside and is holding up well.

He got some air time Thursday when he had to come off the field during a vomiting spell. But he came back Friday and had the same pre-practice breakfast:

"Since I'm a high burner, I try to eat a lot of carbs, some type of potato, bread. Protein, so I have sausage or bacon. And either fruit or some type of hydration. I don't know what it was, but it wasn't what I ate." …

The two big defensive plays came from Ivey and safety Geno Stone. Both played through the hands and knocked away touchdown passes …

Michigan rookie William Wagner long-snapped McPherson's last kick Friday. He's splitting the snaps with incumbent Cal Adomitis and took the last three.

Wagner is used to starting big-time kicks. He flung it back there last year at raucous Ohio Stadium for Dominic Zvada's 21-yard field goal with 45 seconds left in the Big Blue's 13-10 win over eventual national champion Ohio State.

This one was easier, and not because there was no crowd.

"It was something like a 10-minute drive, which in real time is about 40 minutes," Wagner said. "I must have snapped about 50 balls in that time. I was tired. The crowd? What I was thinking about is that I was tired." …

Browning knows first-hand that Burton is better off than last year's tough rookie season adjusting to the league. He hit Burton for a couple of red-zone touchdowns Friday on plays Browning says, "probably had his head spinning last year at this time."

"Jermaine is having a good camp. One year in the system probably has a lot to do with that. I'm sure he wants to have a better second year than first year. There is different stuff that comes with that. He knows what's going on. He knows when he's open. He's not dumb. He's pretty sharp. When he breaks the huddle, it looks like he knows what he's doing. No one ever questioned if he could get open." …