INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) \u2014 Sean McVay said what everyone who watched the Rams\u2019 37-34 overtime loss to the Buffalo Bills on Monday night was thinking.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd in the kicking game, especially, you know, with our PAT\/field goal (unit), not even close to good enough. It cost us the game tonight,\u201d McVay said.<\/p>\n
Harrison Mevis had a 48-yard field goal attempt that would have won the game in overtime blocked, his second miss of the night, to cap another calamitous effort on special teams for the Rams. <\/p>\n
McVay is always calculated and measured with his public statements, particularly about his own players, which made his declarative statements about Mevis and the operation around him all the more telling.<\/p>\n
Asked if he would consider making changes to the unit, McVay was even more blunt.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I\u2019m going to evaluate everything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Rams (2-3) spent the offseason trying to reshape their special teams after frequent breakdowns in multiple games cost them the top seed in the NFC, home field advantage and a first-round bye. They also contributed to the loss in the NFC title game to the Seattle Seahawks.<\/p>\n
McVay invested heavily in trying to fix that area, including hiring Bubba Ventrone as his special teams coordinator. There were key signings in free agency, including a new long snapper in Joe Cardona and special teams ace in linebacker Grant Stuard. More starters were put in the various blocking, return and coverage units, and more time was spent on those areas in training camp, something that has carried over into the regular season.<\/p>\n
And yet, there have still been costly mistakes in each of their past two losses, a 30-26 defeat at the Denver Broncos on Sept. 27 and now against the Bills.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis stings, and it\u2019s going to hurt. But we can\u2019t let this team beat us twice, and we\u2019re going to have to regroup and reset ourselves. And it\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve been this pissed after a game too,\u201d McVay said.<\/p>\n
Mevis thought he struck the ball well in overtime, only for Greg Rousseau to knife inside of guard Kevin Dotson, extend both hands straight up and send the ball on a low knuckleball trajectory before landing on the back line of the end zone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like I hit it good. That\u2019s all I can tell you,\u201d said Mevis, who also missed a 50-yard field goal wide right on the Rams\u2019 first possession of the game. He is 5 of 9 on field goals this season, with all of his misses longer than 40 yards.<\/p>\n
There were plenty of other reasons for the defeat, including McVay\u2019s conservative play calling on third down after quarterback Matthew Stafford easily drove the offense into Bills\u2019 territory. Kyren Williams ran the ball on an inside handoff out of the shotgun on third-and-5 for no gain, with McVay seemingly settling for the long kick.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish I would have had a better play call and gone for it, got it a lot tighter. I\u2019m sick right now with myself, and I\u2019m so proud of that group,\u201d McVay said. <\/p>\n
Even the opening kick foreshadowed another long night for the Rams\u2019 special teams, with Ray Davis returning it 70 yards to the Los Angeles 26 to set up a Buffalo field goal. Punter Ethan Evans\u2019 tackle was barely enough to prevent a touchdown. <\/p>\n
In the locker room after the game and in front of the media, McVay went from player to player, saying how sick he felt about the outcome.<\/p>\n
With as direct as he was about how it happened, changes on special teams are likely coming, and soon.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
See AP\u2019s full NFL coverage here <\/p>\n
Dan Greenspan, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) \u2014 Sean McVay said what everyone who watched the Rams\u2019 37-34 overtime loss to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":931135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":["post-931134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=931134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/931135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=931134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=931134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=931134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}