Joshua Karty has experienced some rookie growing pains as the Los Angeles Rams’ kicker. After making five field goals and six extra points in his first three games, Karty has hit a little bit of a wall. He’s made a field goal in just two of his last eight games and is now 16-for-21 on the year.
The last three games have been particularly troublesome, with Karty missing a 26-yarder against the Patriots in Week 11 and a 47-yard field goal against the Eagles two weeks ago. There’s a lot that goes into kicking a field goal, including the snap, the hold and the protection, but Rams special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn says Karty’s last two misses are completely on him.
“We have been pretty good in operation. There were a couple (of miscues) early on when Alex [Ward] first got back, but since that point, we’ve been really consistent and then it’s just about trusting it. Not only that, on two of the misses, he got quick. He’ll be the first to tell you. He left early, got quick, and expedited it, which just adds an element of not being able to see the ball down as long. You rush into it, your leg just doesn’t quite catch up, you leave it out and things like that. Just staying confident in his timing and rhythm is probably the most important thing. He knows when to go. He knows when to leave and he has a really smooth two-step operation. It looks effortless and there’s not a lot of rush to it. You see a lot of different varying kick styles about approaches and jab, two-step, three-step, all those types of things. He’s very smooth and rhythmic so when he’s in rhythm and he leaves on time, everything flows from there. He just got quick and there’s nobody (to blame) but himself on those.”
It doesn’t sound like Blackburn is overly concerned about his rookie kicker, who he called a “pretty mentally tough kid.” Fortunately, his 26-yard miss against the Patriots didn’t end up costing the Rams and they lost by 17 to the Eagles a week later, so his 47-yarder wasn’t terribly consequential, either.
However, things do need to improve in the kicking game, especially if the Rams are going to be playing football in mid-January as a playoff team.
“He’s had a lot of success and he’s failed before. You look back through his college career, he doesn’t normally miss two in a row and different things and he can make the adjustments,” Blackburn said. “We talk about being an athlete first and having that kind of mentality to where you could overcome adversities. Those are the number one things you’re talking about to a kid like that. To have success early, have a little bit of struggle in the middle, and find it for the right point. That’s where we’re at right now is hitting our stride going forward. He has a lot of confidence and is hitting the ball really well. He’s earned a lot of confidence from the whole team as well.”
Karty is still very early on in his career and he has plenty of time to improve. With only two field goal attempts in his last three games and zero made field goals, seeing one go through the uprights will likely help his confidence, so that will be the first step.