McPherson, who was the Florida Gators’ kicker in college, had the highest field-goal percentage (85 percent) of any kicker in the history of the Southeastern Conference. He credited the raucous SEC crowds with preparing him for the N.F.L.
In getting to know McPherson, whom the Bengals snapped up in the fifth round last spring, Burrow said he tested the rookie’s poise, “poking and prodding” him with jokes and locker-room banter to see how he would react.
“He gave it right back to me,” Burrow said, “and as soon as he did that, I knew what we had.”
McPherson made 28 of 33 field goals in the regular season and missed just two of 48 extra-point attempts. He was perfect from inside 40 yards and made nine kicks of at least 50 yards.
In perhaps the most disastrous day of kicking, in a regular-season loss to Green Bay in October — there were a combined five missed field goals in the final five minutes of regulation and overtime — McPherson missed two kicks. He attempted a potential game-winning field goal in overtime, but as the ball veered past the left upright, McPherson, unaware that the kick was no good, could be seen on the television broadcast celebrating as though the Bengals had won.