At 6-2 the Los Angeles Rams have been clicking on all cylinders, although the one thing that has been holding them back is their kicking game.
Through eight games, Joshua Karty has made 10-of-15 field goal attempts and 23-of-26 extra points. His eight missed kicks are the most in the league.
Not all of it is Karty’s fault as the Rams have struggled to protect as well, leading to some blocked kicks.
But regardless, the issue is not getting solved as Karty missed two more kicks in the Rams’ Week 9 win over the New Orleans Saints. He first missed an extra point way left and then a field goal attempt way right. The laces were facing the wrong way on the first one, and the second one was nearly blocked.
This has been a theme all year for the Rams and Sean McVay has had enough. After the win over the Saints, McVay did not sugarcoat L.A.’s kicking struggles and the need to address it.
“It’s gotta get better,” McVay said. “We’re going to figure out how to be able to fix this, but it can’t continue like this. Not going to get into blaming anybody specifically. Ultimately, it’s my responsibility. It’s gone on for too long and we’ve got to be able to fix it. I don’t want to be negative after there were so many positives from our group as a whole. That was obviously not ideal. We’ve leaned into it and there’s some instances where it’s not getting better so we’ve got to be able to figure it out.”
McVay has been patient with Karty and the Rams’ kicking game, but at a certain point enough is enough. This team has legitimate Super Bowl aspirations but if they can’t execute a kick when they need to, that will seriously hinder them. It already has done so in both of their losses this season, as well as some of their wins where it didn’t end up mattering as much.
It will be interesting to see if the Rams bring in any kickers for a workout this week, although as previously stated, the team’s struggles in the kicking game are not limited to Karty.
Rams place Tutu Atwell on injured reserve
Ahead of their Week 9 game against the Saints, the Rams announced they have placed wide receiver Tutu Atwell on injured reserve. He will miss at least four games due to a hamstring injury that he aggravated in Week 7.
