It’s pretty safe to say that the Rams’ offense and defense have both exceeded pre-season expectations this year. The offense scored the eighth-most points in the NFL, and while the defense ranked 19th, that’s actually not terrible considering the lack of proven talent on that side of the ball.
The special teams unit, however, has been atrocious. Based on DVOA, it’s one of the worst in NFL history, missing an NFL-high 11 field goals, as well as five extra-point attempts. Ethan Evans averaged only 38.4 net yards per punt because of the Rams’ awful coverage, and he also had one punt blocked.
No matter which area of special teams you look at, the Rams were one of the worst. That’s what makes it so unsurprising that they finished 32nd in Rick Gosselin’s annual special teams rankings after coming in 29th last year.
The Rams accumulated a league-worst 493 points in Gosselin’s rankings, which is based on where teams rank in 22 different categories, from kickoff returns to penalties. For example, if a team ranks last in a category, it gets 32 points. The fewer points, the better. The next-closest team was the Dolphins with 479 points, while the Texans finished first for the second straight season (236 points).
The Rams finished last in kickoff returns (16.1 yards), punt coverage (15.5 yards), points allowed (14) and opponent blocked kicks (3). In all, it was a complete mess in Chase Blackburn’s first season as the special teams coordinator.
There has been no consistency at kicker between Brett Maher and Lucas Havrisik, the Rams have gotten nothing out of their return specialists and the coverage on both kickoffs and punts has been terrible.
Don’t be surprised if sweeping changes are made to the special teams group in the offseason.