Tag: Greg Zuerlein

Rams to work out kickers with Greg Zuerlein uncertain to play vs. 49ers

Greg Zuerlein may not be able to play against the 49ers due to a quad strain.

The Rams have some uncertainty at kicker heading into Week 16 after Greg Zuerlein strained his quad against the Cowboys on Sunday. There’s a chance he’ll be able to play against the 49ers on Saturday night, but the one fewer day of rest he has doesn’t help his cause.

Los Angeles doesn’t have a set plan in place in case Zuerlein doesn’t play, but arrangements are being made. Sean McVay said at Tuesday’s press conference that the team will bring kickers in this week as possible replacements for Zuerlein in San Francisco.

“We’ll have some guys that have recently – we’ve got a couple names. ‘Bones’ (John Fassel) was on top of that right away when this situation came up,” McVay said. “If we do feel like it’s going to be something that we anticipate maybe he can go, maybe he can’t, we might end up keeping somebody that’s close by overnight, or we might end up having to sign somebody later on in the week if we make the determination that he isn’t able to go. That’s not what we expect, but we will have some guys coming in here Thursday night.”

McVay didn’t say who would be working out for the Rams, but he indicated that they’ll be looking at kickers who were recently with teams. He also left the door open for the possibility that they could go for two after every touchdown and get more aggressive on fourth down rather than settling for field goals.

“I think those guys that are street free agents that have most recently been with teams, I think they kind of know what the gig is that you never know when your number is going to be called. … Then we can always just go for two every time and we had a similar situation two years ago. And you can change up a lot of your tendencies on third down, too. So you never know,” he said with a smile.

It’s worth noting that Zuerlein is a free agent after this season, so bringing kickers in now to work out could give them an early look at a few options if Zuerlein doesn’t return in 2020. The Rams would probably like to bring him back next season, but he’s also had his share of struggles in 2019.

Zuerlein is only 4-for-9 (44%) from 40-49 yards after going 41-for-49 (83.7%) from that distance in his previous seven seasons combined.

NFL Best Bets: Three best underdog locks for Week 14

Our weekly NFL underdog betting staple continues into Week 14 where Ken Pomponio features three teams likely to upset their underdog odds

One of our three picks from a 2-1 Week 13 provided a snapshot of getting the best of the line.

We jumped on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a week ago as 1.5-point underdogs against the host Jacksonville Jaguars. We weren’t alone as the bets were pouring in on the Bucs, and by the time kickoff rolled around Sunday, Tampa Bay was a field-goal favorite.

It didn’t matter in the end as the Bucs won and covered easily by a 28-11 score. By jumping in ahead on the right side of a massive 4.5-point line swing – which moved, mind you, without the influence of a key injury – is nothing short of vital when betting the ultra-tight NFL.

Selecting the Bucs and the Tennessee Titans, another outright underdog road winner last week, while falling short with the Minnesota Vikings in a Monday night shootout in Seattle, upped our season record to 23-16 through 13 weeks.

Now we tackle the Week 14 card, looking for a third straight winning week. As usual, we’re looking at Wednesday’s posted point spreads from BetMGM. Here goes …

Washington Redskins (+12.5) at Green Bay Packers

Photo Credit: Jeremy Brevard – USA TODAY Sports

We’ll start with a straight formula, by-the-numbers play more than anything else as we note double-digit favorites have won 19 of 22 games outright this season but are only 10-12 against the mid-week spreads, including 1-4 over the last month.

Improving rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins and Washington have won two straight after a 1-9 start while Green Bay is coming off a get-right, 31-13 rout of the host New York Giants and just may be looking ahead a little to a crucial closing three-game stretch against NFC North foes.

We’re definitely not expecting Aaron Rodgers and Co. to slip up on the frozen tundra, but we’ll go with the D.C. visitors to somehow come up with a cover.

Denver Broncos (+7.5) at Houston Texans

Photo Credit: Ron Chenoy – USA TODAY Sports

Yeah, we know we’re playing with fire, going with another rookie quarterback on the road in the Broncos’ Drew Lock in only his second career start, but this is more a play against the Texans than anything else.

Wizard QB Deshaun Watson and Houston are coming off a massive, 28-22 upset win over the nemesis New England Patriots Sunday night, and it’s easy to see how the focus probably won’t be as sharp facing a visiting 4-8 Denver squad.

The numbers make our case as the Texans are only 1-4 ATS as favorites (as opposed to 5-2 as underdogs) this season while the usually-plucky Broncos are 6-3 as underdogs and 7-5 ATS overall, including 6-2 over their last eight outings.

That all makes the safe bet a narrow Houston win.

L.A. Rams (+2.5) vs. Seattle Seahawks

Photo Credit: Matt Kartozian – USA TODAY Sports

The NFC West-leading Seahawks are an impressive 6-0 on the road this season while the Rams have struggled at home, winning only two of five games in L.A. so far.

But coach Sean McVay is 3-2 against the Seahawks since taking the Rams’ reins in 2017, and one of the losses was a crushing 30-29 road defeat in Week 5 as PK Greg Zuerlein‘s 44-yard potential game-winning field-goal attempt sailed right with 11 seconds remaining.

Beating the Rams usually comes down to pressuring and flustering QB Jared Goff, but Seattle ranks in the league’s bottom quarter in sack percentage and quarterback hits while surrendering the fourth-most passing yards per game at 269.3.

Look for the 7-5 Rams to win outright in what could turn into a shootout Sunday night and boost their wild-card hopes.

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What’s gone wrong with the Rams’ special teams this season?

The Rams’ special teams unit has not been good in 2019.

The Rams had arguably the best special teams unit in the NFL two years ago. Johnny Hekker, Greg Zuerlein and Pharoh Cooper were all first-team All-Pros in 2017, while long snapper Jake McQuaide was a Pro Bowler that year, as well.

The unit took a small step back in 2018, though. The only Pro Bowler to come from the Rams’ special teams was Cory Littleton, who was a menace when it came to blocking kicks. Hekker and Zuerlein were both passed over as Pro Bowlers and All-Pros, as were return specialists JoJo Natson and Blake Countess, who replaced Pharoh Cooper late in the year.

As mediocre as the special teams unit was last season, it’s been even worse this year. The Rams are seventeenth in net average punting and are tied for last in punts downed inside the 20-yard line. Hekker has booted four touchbacks, which is tied for the fifth-most in the NFL. Punt coverage has been decent, allowing 167 yards (13th-most), but the punts themselves have been underwhelming.

It’s part of the reason the Rams are 20th in opponent average starting position this season after ranking 10th in 2018 and ninth in 2017.

Hekker isn’t the only one who’s struggling, either. Zuerlein has had his issues in 2019, going just 4-for-9 on field goal tries between 40 and 49 yards. Overall, he’s 22-for-28 on field goals and 29-for-29 on PATs, but his missed FGs have come at inopportune times; remember his miss late against the Seahawks?

The Rams are just 16th in the NFL in FG percentage (79%) and 26th on attempts between 40 and 49 yards (44%).

In the return game, the Rams are 13th in both kick return average and punt return average. Their longest kick return is just 30 yards, however, which is tied for the fifth-shortest in the league. It doesn’t help that they’ve only had 13 kick returns, second-fewest in the NFL.

Natson is out for the year, so Darrell Henderson will take over kick returns and Nsimba Webster punt return duties, so perhaps those spots will see an improvement.

Penalties have also been costly on special teams. The Rams have 15 special teams penalties this year, which is more than all but three teams. They had 26 a season ago, second-most in the league, so they haven’t done much to improve in that regard, either.

John Fassel is a great ST coordinator, but his group has not played up to its standards this year. They must improve in that phase of the game in these final four weeks.

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