Cincinnati Bengals assistant head coach and special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons indicated that he wasn’t happy that rookie kicker Evan McPherson and veteran long snapper Clark Harris stayed on the bench to watch the Super Bowl 56 halftime show featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar instead of joining the rest of the team in the locker room, according to a story Thursday by Bengals.com’s Geoff Hobson.
“That’s a sore subject,” Simmons said, per Hobson, who added that Simmons was “uncharacteristically curt” while discussing it. “That’s a real sore subject.”
NBC pointed out during its Super Bowl broadcast – just before the start of the game’s second half – that McPherson sat on the sideline and watched. Harris, who has played 13 seasons for the Bengals, was not shown.
SUPER BOWL: McPherson stayed on the field to watch the halftime show
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McPherson made all 14 of his field-goal attempts in the Bengals’ four postseason games, including a 29-yarder and a 38-yarder in Cincinnati’s first Super Bowl appearance since Jan. 1989.
The Enquirer’s Paul Daugherty wrote Feb. 4 that McPherson “doesn’t just change games, he changes thinking and strategies … (and) challenges the tendencies of play-callers on both sidelines.”

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