Bengals kicker Evan McPherson’s 43-yard knife through the NFL's most treacherous wind Sunday to cut the lead to 10-9 on the first possession of the second half summed up his season.

Overshadowed, but quietly clutch.

His old ways have him back to his old ways of consistency after last year's groin injury cut short his most disappointing season. This week, he sat down with Bengals.com senior writer Geoff Hobson to talk about his busy year of onside kicks and 67-yarders and how the injury made him love the game more. He's got this.

The Conversation

GH: Never easy kicking in the open end in Pittsburgh, so you had to feel good about that 43-yarder in a monstrous wind. Probably about 20 miles per hour.

EM: It was a pretty windy day. Probably one of the worst that I've ever had to handle.

GH: Your worst in the pros?

EM: Probably, yeah. It wasn't letting up pretty much the whole game. It kind of died down there in the fourth quarter just a touch. But for most of the game, it was howling.

GH: Did you adjust at all?

EM: Definitely adjusted a little bit going back towards our tunnel. I was just trying to, I say, hit more like a straight ball. Obviously, I went out there pretty far right on the second field goal. Just inside the left, and I pushed it a touch, and then it was kind of sitting outside the upright for a second, and right there at the end it came back left, and the wind caught it. So it brought it back in. But going that way (the closed end), I was just focused on hitting, kind of like a straight ball.

And then the open end, it was a left-to-right wind. So we kind of messed with the hold a little bit. Usually I like to lean it towards (holder) Ryan (Rehkow), but whenever we're going that way, we lean the ball more so like it's into the wind so it's more straight up and down. And so it doesn't really tail off right as much. And the only thing I really focus on there is just getting through it.

If you're late at all going that way, the ball is just going to get smoked by the wind. It goes so far right.

GH: You're really having a hell of a year when you look at it. Busy. The 67-yarder that got waved off. Two great on-side kicks. A prime-time walkoff. Your three misses are from 67 56, and a 54-yarder with a story all its own. Is it just getting back to the basics like you talked about in OTAs? Going back to the old days?

EM: Yeah, just going back to what I know best, what I grew up doing, and just kind of going out there and reacting. But I think for the most part, I feel like I've had a big switch in my mental approach to the game and the kicking, and it's helped out a lot, I feel like.

GH: Has that grown during the year? Can you elaborate on that and on what you have changed?

EM: It's just basically talking confidence into yourself. I know I've heard the stat. I'm not going to be able to say it, but the percentage of times that your mind will throw something negative into your head is pretty high. I've just learned to counteract all the negative thoughts with positive thoughts, and just try to keep those positive thoughts in my head. And I feel like when you do, you have a higher success rate because you believe you can do it.

And I feel like that's what I struggled with last year. Letting those negative thoughts kind of stew in my mind too much and giving into those. So this year, it's all been all about counteracting them and telling myself that I can do it. I'm qualified to do it. And, you know, I've done it 100 times.

GH: When you say a positive thought, what does that mean? What's a positive thought?

EM: I feel like your mind is quick to tell you, 'You're not good enough.' Or, 'The wind's blowing really hard. I don't know if I can make this kick.' And so I counteract that. I just keep telling myself, 'You got this.' Like the last thing I tell myself before I look down at Ryan is, 'You got this.'

GH: When did you start doing that?

EM: In OTAs. Just before every kick. And just tell myself, 'You got this.' And more times than not, I got it.

For me, it's been actually seeing the ball go through before I even kick it, so visualizing what I want it to look like before I actually kick it. And so I know what I'm looking for, and it's in my head, and my body just kind of reacts. That's kind of what I'm feeling and thinking.

GH: Is there anything you've added to that?

EM: No, I just try to stay consistent to it and not just take any days off from it. And if it's working, why go away from it? So I'm just committing to it each and every day, and just making sure I have the same mindset every day going into practice.

GH: You have to be happy with how you're kicking.

EM: I'm really happy with how (my) season's gone so far. I just hope that I can stick with it and finish off the season even stronger.

GH: The deal with the 54-yarder that was short against the Bears. (Special teams coordinator) Darrin (Simmons) said you weren't even kicking a K-Ball right? You were kicking a quarterback ball?

EM: I was definitely aware of the football. I looked and saw that they weren't able to exchange and get the K-Ball in. So I knew, but I honestly didn't think that it would affect as much as it maybe did. I mean, I thought I could hit the ball a little bit better, stronger.

GH: It was right down the middle.

EM: It was right down the middle, but just not strong enough.

GH: But that was because of the ball, right?

EM: It definitely played a factor in it a little bit. I felt like I've hit balls worse, like in practice and in games from the same distance, and they've gone through. I've never had an issue, I feel like, with not being able to get the ball to the uprights. So that was pretty strange to miss short from 54.

GH: How many times has that happened to you? Not kicking a K-Ball?

EM: That's the first time that I've ever kicked the quarterback ball. It's just a strange situation. The play clock already started. And so, at that point, the refs were like, they don't want to throw the K-Ball in in case they fumble and mess it up. And so they're just more willing to just leave the quarterback ball in and have you kick it.

GH: The great thing about it is that you didn't panic. That was your last kick before the bye, and you just came back like before. Positive.

EM: The game after the bye is definitely big. An important one, to just kind of keep things rolling.

GH: Did you do anything over the bye to keep it positive?

EM: I went to Disney World with my daughter and my wife. So there's a lot of positive stuff. A lot of walking. That was my workout.

GH: What was your favorite thing at Disney World?

EM: We did a lot of character meetings. My daughter loves Anna and Elsa. Olaf. Moana. She got to meet Goofy and Pluto. Mickey Mouse.

GH: Who is her favorite?

EM: Mickey Mouse is definitely her all-time. I feel like her favorite.

GH: How old is she now?

EM: She's a little over a year and a half. She did come home with an Olaf stuffed animal from Frozen. The snowman. She picked it out.

GH: Another thing. You've had two great onside kicks. The play that's not supposed to work.

EM: We should be two-for-two for onside kick recoveries. My foot got in the way of the first one. The ball squirted between the dude's legs, and I go and dive for it, and I kicked it before I was able to get my hands on it. So I kicked it right back into his chest. If I could have just fallen on it, I would have had it easy. It was live. And then the second one, we'd been repping it for a few weeks.

GH: Right off the side of your foot?

EM: Yep. A little rap back to the left, and we've been repping it for a few weeks, and it wasn't going 10, but I was telling Darrin, 'Somebody's going to step up, and it's going to hit him. I think that's how we're going to recover it.' And sure enough, that guy steps across the line to block, and it just hits him in the back of the thigh, and OB (Oren Burks) does a great job of getting on it and recovering. It's the first successful on-side kick I've ever been a part of. Pretty cool.

GH: Even though the 67-yarder in Green Bay didn't count because of the timeout, that had to be a big lift. Off the back of the crossbar and in.

EM: It was pretty cool to get that one to go in. I knew it was the record attempt running out there, and I was pretty excited about it.

GH: Three weeks later, the Jags' Cam Little got the record at 68.

EM: It wouldn't have stood for long. But I would have had it for a brief time. Who knows? Maybe one day we'll get 69 or 70. It probably will be broken. I keep saying this.

Shoot, I don't think a record is safe until you have something crazy, like a 72 or 73, where the wind is just howling, and you get a crazy opportunity, and you hit the best ball of your life. I think somebody can do it. It's just got to be the perfect opportunity.

GH: Could you see yourself hitting a 70-yarder?

EM: The stars would have to align there.

GH: You hit a 67.

EM: I did and I don't think I hit that one that well. So I think I can do it. I think I would just have to probably hit it like a kickoff. I think I could. It would just take a lot.

GH: Can you leave me with a positive thought?

EM: I feel like I've been excited this year. Just sitting out for the last seven weeks last year, I feel like it really made me miss playing the game. I really feel like I tried to embrace the opportunity I've got right now with the Bengals and just enjoying it every day and not taking it for granted. Just going out there and having fun. Just out there with my friends and enjoying this time we have together.