The Rams Have Burned Through Two Kickers in Six Days, and Their Season Is Following the Football

Sean McVay's team handed out replica Super Bowl rings at SoFi Stadium on Sunday. By Monday, the Rams needed a third kicker.

That's the week in Los Angeles, where the most compelling story isn't Matthew Stafford's arm or a defense that keeps bending — it's a specialist operation that has become the defining failure of a 2–4 season. The Rams lost 18–16 to Arizona in Week 6, dropped into last place in the NFC West, and did it while their newly signed kicker left the building in a brace and on crutches.

Six days, three kickers

The chain of events is almost comic. Harrison Mevis went 0-for-2 on field goals against Buffalo in Week 5, including a potential game-winner that was blocked in overtime, and was released. Blake Grupe was signed as the replacement, capped the Rams' opening drive Sunday with a 44-yard field goal — and then tore his ACL attempting to make a tackle on the ensuing kickoff. He was placed on injured reserve Monday and will miss the rest of the season.

Los Angeles is now working out Brandon McManus and Matt Prater, two veterans who were not on a roster in mid-October. That's the third kicker on the depth chart in under two weeks, and it's a hole the front office created by churning the position in the first place.

The underlying numbers explain the panic. The Rams are 6-of-10 on field goals for the season — 60 percent. They've left points on the board in a season where their point differential is minus-3. In a two-point loss to the Cardinals, that math writes itself.

The scoreboard can't keep up with the yardage

The cruelest part is that the Rams are moving the ball better than almost anyone. They average 413.8 yards per game — among the league's very best — while scoring just 22.5 points. Stafford has thrown for 1,794 yards with 11 touchdowns and six interceptions. The offense generates volume and then stalls, and a kicker who can't convert turns every stall into a wasted drive.

Arizona, meanwhile, kicked six field goals Sunday, including the game-winner, while the Rams were down to emergency options. That is the entire margin between 3–3 and 2–4.

What it means for the season

The 49ers are 6–0 in the division. The Rams are tied with the Cardinals at 2–4, and the gap between their reputation and their record has never been wider. Their rating has slid sharply week over week, and their record against the number reflects a team that keeps losing the hidden yards — penalties (46 on the year), a minus-3 turnover differential, and a punt net average of 38.1 that ranks near the bottom of the league.

The market hasn't given up on them yet. Los Angeles opened as a 6.5-point road favorite at Las Vegas for Week 7 and has been bet down to -4.5 with a 48.5 total — a modest, get-right price against a 3–3 Raiders team that has lost three straight. The Rams' talent still commands respect. The results don't.

The bigger question

Special teams is a symptom. The coordinator seat is warm, McVay's game management is under public scrutiny for the first time in years, and the Rams have now used two kickers as an excuse and a crutch in the same month. Signing McManus or Prater fixes the immediate problem — the extra point and the 45-yarder.

It doesn't fix a team that has to play a clean, complete game to win by a field goal, and hasn't yet. Until the Rams stop bleeding points in the margins, the roster that was supposed to contend for a Super Bowl will keep looking up at the Cardinals.