Rams’ Kicking Woes Continue to Haunt Team
It was about 12 hours after his team blew numerous opportunities in an overtime loss to the San Francisco 49ers, and Rams coach Sean McVay was still kicking himself. And lamenting his team’s troubled kicking game. “That has been a killer for us,” McVay said Friday during a videoconference with reporters, “and it’s cost us two games.”
The Rams are 3-2, with defeats by the defending Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles and the 49ers due in part to woeful execution on field-goal and extra-point attempts. The Eagles beat the Rams by blocking two field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter, including a potential winning kick that they returned for a touchdown on the final play.
On Thursday night, Rams kicker Joshua Karty missed a long field-goal attempt, and the 49ers blocked an extra-point try. That’s four points lost in a 26-23 defeat. Karty, who has been masterful at dropping hard-to-handle knuckleball kickoffs into the landing zone, also misplaced a kick that gave the 49ers the ball at the 40-yard line.
McVay’s Concerns
Karty, however, does not appear to be McVay’s most pressing kick-related concern. The kicking unit as a whole has played a major role in both defeats, which also featured poor execution by the Rams at times in other areas. “I can’t remember feeling much more disgusted waking up after a tough loss, than I have after the two that we’ve had,” McVay said.
So how do the Rams fix their kicking problems? “Oh man,” McVay said. “I wish it was just one thing but when you watch the protection — we’ve got to fix it. And it’s not one thing in particular. There’s different locations and spots and people that have not executed the way that we’re capable of.”
After the Rams defeated the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, McVay thought the Rams had addressed their issues. “Clearly, I was not right on that,” McVay said, “so we’ve got to fix it. We’ve got to go back to work.”
Looking Ahead
The Rams are off for the weekend, and they will return on Monday to begin preparations for a game against the Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore. After that game, the Rams will remain in Baltimore to prepare for their next game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London. “We’re a couple execution plays away from being a 5-0 team,” McVay said. “But the reality is we’re 3-2.”
McVay sounded confident that the Rams would rebound from the loss to the 49ers. “This is going to galvanize us,” he said. “I promise you that.”
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