Missed Field Goals Obscure Real Issue For Rams: This Super Team Is Not Super

SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, California) — Los Angeles Rams long snapper Joe Cardona silently looked on from near his locker while teammate Harrison Mevis stood in front of a throng of reporters and publicly accepted blame for their team’s latest shortcoming, a 37-34 overtime loss to the Buffalo Bills, in which edge rusher Greg Rousseau blocked what would have been a game-winning kick for “The Thiccer Kicker.” Instead, the Rams, anointed a “Super Team” this offseason nationally after making blockbuster trades for Myles Garrett and Trent McDuffie, along with the return from retirement of Aaron Donald, must dig themselves out of a 2-3 hole to start the year. “First and foremost, my job is to be a good teammate,” Cardona told me as Mevis spoke. “We’re going to find a way to get better and move on from this performance and find a way to improve it moving forward.” Like Cardona, running back Kyren Williams, another one of the 11 (!) team captains, told me he still backs Mevis, even though he’s a league-worst 5-of-9 on field goals through five games. “We don’t change up on nobody because of a bad game bro,” Williams told me. “I’ve had plenty of bad games, and I still feel the same love from everybody else in this building, bro. So, we don’t change up on nobody because of a bad play. We don’t do that.” Rams head coach Sean McVay had seen enough, though. The Rams released Mevis and signed Blake Grupe from the New York Jets practice squad Tuesday morning, making the change despite the support Mevis had in the locker room. It’s L.A.’s ninth kicker during McVay’s 10 seasons with the team. McVay walked around the locker room after Monday’s loss, offering words of encouragement to let players know he still appreciates them after another faceplant loss this season. “It hurts so much because of the expectations we have for ourselves and the things we know we can do as a team,” offensive lineman Steven Avila said in a locker room scrum. “Sean does well with things like this. We use it as fuel, so I’m excited to get out there.” Heavy favorites to win the Super Bowl at the start of the year, the Rams have lost to three playoff teams from last season: the San Francisco 49ers, the Denver Broncos and now the Bills. The only wins have come against the New York Giants (playing with a backup quarterback) and a Philadelphia Eagles team on the brink of imploding. The Rams were expected to waltz to the Super Bowl, but they haven’t made the main thing the main thing. That starts with their head coach, who somehow thought it would be good to show up a day before the game on a 17-hour flight for the team’s season opener in Australia. The team’s kicker was hawking T-shirts printed with his nickname. Garrett is doing national commercial spots, but has only played in one game this season due to a knee injury sustained during training camp, and we still don’t know when he’ll return. Puka Nacua recently returned from a hip injury and has struggled to stay on the field, but he was targeted 24 times in Monday’s loss, finishing with 17 receptions for 138 yards and a score. That type of workload doesn’t seem like a recipe for the BYU product playing his best in January. The margin of error between winning and losing has always been smaller than perceived nationally because the Rams have the fourth-oldest roster in the league, led by 38-year-old quarterback Matthew Stafford. Yes, the Rams have four players with Hall of Fame-worthy résumés on the team (Davante Adams, Donald, Stafford and Garrett), but they’re all 30 years or older. The addition of new special teams coach Bubba Ventrone has not improved L.A.’s execution on special teams, as it gave up a 70-yard kick return by Ray Davis to start the game and allowed Rousseau to step through a gaping hole between guard Greg Dotson and tackle Coleman Shelton to block Mevis’ 48-yard field goal attempt in overtime. After his best season statistically as a pro last season netted him his first league MVP award, Stafford has followed it up with a start in which he leads the league in passing yards (1,572) but is also third in interceptions (6) and 19th in passer rating (88.9). The addition of Trent McDuffie via trade and Jaylen Watson in free agency was supposed to improve defensively. However, the Rams, led by future head coaching candidate defensive coordinator Chris Shula, have given up 24 points per game in the NFL (20th in the league). And they have allowed 128.4 rushing yards per contest (26th in the league). And the Rams aren’t making big plays enough defensively to offset that. Los Angeles has just five takeaways in five games and seven sacks (No. 28 in the NFL). Basically, this year’s “Super Team” has not played “Super” through the first part of the season. McVay understands that. It’s his job to make things better. “This stings,” McVay said about the loss. “And it’s gonna hurt, but we can’t let this team beat us twice. We’re going to have to regroup and reset ourselves. It’s been a while since I’ve been this pissed after a game.” It’s still early enough in the season for the Rams to get their swagger back. Under .500 at this point of the season for the fourth time under McVay, the Rams remain co-favorites with the 49ers to win the Super Bowl. Over the next five games, they face the Arizona Cardinals, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, Washington Commanders and Arizona again before their Week 11 bye. Those teams have a combined record of 5-14-1. But at some point, the Rams must meet the lofty expectations they established this offseason. “It’s going to be an opportunity for us to respond,” Nacua said. “Really look at ourselves in the mirror and say what our identity is going to be.”