There is a credible argument that the Los Angeles Rams should be undefeated and head coach Sean McVay must be frustrated that that isn’t the reality.
The Rams have looked like the best overall team at times during the 2025 season, but their two losses against the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers have dampened that assertion. In both losses, special teams blunders ended up costing them the game and it continues to be an issue in the McVay era.
Joshua Karty looked great in his rookie year, but so far he has had four blocks kicked this season. Karty didn’t help his case this past weekend against the Baltimore Ravens as he missed a chip shot field goal, albeit in windy conditions.
Ahead of an overseas matchup in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars, McVay expressed he still has confidence in his kicker, via ESPN Los Angeles:
“Number one, I thought the protection was excellent the other day. And there’s three elements to these things when you’re talking about, and there’s a lot of elements, but really it’s the snap, it’s the hold, and then it’s the kick as well. And so I look at those three guys as one. You’re looking for that to be a consistent operation. The timing, the trajectory but all those things go hand in hand and I think that’s how we evaluate that. Josh is a guy that I have confidence in and I’m excited to be able to try to watch him continue to work through some different challenging things. But I think a lot of times that it’s no different than sometimes people get blamed for sacks or kickers get blamed for a missed field goal and it’s not exclusively or always on them.”
While McVay is right to point out that the blocked or missed kicks aren’t necessarily always Karty’s fault, at some point something needs to change given this is a problem that has costed the Rams wins. Exacerbating the kicking issue is the fact that Los Angeles also struggles to score touchdowns in the red zone, forcing McVay into some tough decisions.
Another poor outing against the Jaguars could be the final straw for Karty, so it’ll be worth monitoring how he performs.
Sean McVay felt sick about overtime play call against 49ers
Sean McVay isn’t perfect as a play caller and admitted he was sick over his decision to run on 4th-and-1 in the recent loss to the 49ers.
