Mike Hilton, Tyler Boyd, Logan Wilson

SLANTS AND SCREENS: Wilson, an all-state punter at Casper, Wyo.’s Natrona County High School (not to mention a wide receiver and safety) kicked his team into a night off Friday.

Head coach Zac Taylor ended Thursday’s practice after kicker Evan McPherson hit a 55-yarder to complete a 6-for-6 day. Just a reminder there’s no emergency replacement for that. Then Taylor challenged Wilson with a 33-yard PAT. If he made it, no meetings after the next practice. He didn’t tell him they would keep trying until he made it, but he only needed one.

“I remember the basics of it,” Wilson said of the mechanics. “My ball flight wasn’t the best. What it did do was go between the uprights.”

Wilson hasn’t kicked since those Glory Days and when he mentioned his prowess to special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons , he asked Wilson to kick a few. He was a bit intrigued.

“I just joked with Darrin and just kind of kicked a couple,” Wilson said. “And he said, ‘Be ready, we might need you for something.’ He kept it low key so that was what it was for. Glad I had been practicing.”

Simmons shrugged. He didn’t even want to say he could use Wilson in an emergency.

“If necessary. We shouldn’t have to get to that point. God forbid, yes,” Wilson said.

Hilton had an idea he could do it because he had once talked to Wilson about his kicking exploits and discovered he had been all-state.

“He’s multi-versatile,” Hilton said. “He’s flying around out there in the middle of the field and then kicks it like that.”

Taylor: “He’s been practicing for that. You never know when you’re going to need an emergency kicker. I don’t think we knew at first that he had that talent … He’s an option. He’d be an option.” …

Wilson’s PAT came two days shy of the 13th anniversary of Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco kicking a PAT in a preseason game in Foxboro, Mass. It proved to be the decisive point in a 7-6 win over the Patriots in a game started by Tom Brady. Simmons found an emergency guy that night when Shayne Graham’s…