Although the Los Angeles Rams made the playoffs, the team knew it needed to make a change on special teams. Special teams has been by far and away the weakest part of the roster, particularly the kicking as the Rams have left points on the board. In their win against the New York Giants, Lucas Havrisik missed two extra points that nearly cost Los Angeles the win.
After the missed extra points, the Rams waived Havrisik and brought back veteran Brett Maher. Sean McVay explained the decision largely was because of Maher’s experience.
“Yeah, I think getting into the playoffs definitely changes a little bit of the dialogue in regard to what we know we have coming down the pipe so wanted to get somebody in here that had some experience,” McVay said.
“We’ll end up bringing (K) Brett Maher back. He’s a guy that has had experience. I think when you look at some of the earlier situations he was in, we asked him to attempt a lot of long field goals. He was fairly consistent when you’re talking about some of those field goals from under 50 (yards) and in. And so we’ve got to get him back in here and we’ll get him going and you never know what’s going to happen with Lucas. When I talked to him, he is a guy that you do have confidence in. He has a lot of ability. You look at some of the background of these kickers and it sometimes takes a little bit to be able to settle in and play as consistent as you want. There’s been a lot of successful guys that have navigated through some early struggles or early challenges and had great careers.”
McVay added that the slimmer margins in the postseason contributed to the decision to part ways with Havrisik.
“I think it was what we thought was going to be for us to be at our best and so there were some opportunities when you want to have some patience, you don’t want to rush to judgment. I think there were some good things that Lucas did but I think the overall consistency, especially when you’re talking about some of those shorter range kicks that we expect to be at a higher percentage, we just weren’t coming through enough and we felt like the move was going to be in the best interest of our group. So yes in a way, but that was kind of the totality of the decision.”
Maher was perfect on field goals within 40 yards and didn’t miss an extra point attempt, so he is an upgrade over Havrisik. Hopefully Maher’s able to provide some stability in the postseason and keep the Rams’ momentum going.
Sean McVay says Rams explored kicking options
Although Maher ended up getting his job in Los Angeles back, he admitted that he and the team evaluated other options.
“Yeah, there are options out there and then there are guys that have kind of had some familiarity with it. And so there’s not a perfect scenario, but I think when you look at just the landscape, some of the options, this is what we felt like was going to be the best opportunity to move forward the way that we want to. So that was kind of how we settled on Brett.”
