Rams rank No. 30 in annual NFL special teams rankings
The Los Angeles Rams have some work to do on special teams next season, according to Rick Gosselin’s annual rankings.
Gosselin has been performing his NFL annual ranking for 42 seasons. He takes the 32 teams and ranks them in 22 kicking-game categories, assigning points according to their standing -- one for best, 32 for worst.
The Patriots finished with 214 points for tops on the list, eight points better than No. 2 Seattle Seahawks at 222.5.
The Rams were No. 30 on the list with 507 points.
L.A. had issues at kicker early in the year, cycling through seventh-round rookie Samuel Sloman and Southern California native Kai Forbath before settling on Matt Gay, who stabilized the position.
The Utah product has made 14-of-16 field goals with a long of 51 yards and all 16 of his extra points. Gay also has a touchback percentage of 80 percent.
“I’ll tell you what, it’s been huge,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said about the addition of Gay. “Man, he’s Mr. Automatic, as of late. I’ve been really impressed with just the continuity between he, (P) Johnny (Hekker) and (LS) Jake (McQuaide). I think that’s something that you don’t take for granted. He’s done a great job and it looks like we found our guy for a long time, really for the future.”
While Gay performed well, the Rams have struggled on punt coverage and punt returns at times this season.
The Rams had four fumbles on punt returns. L.A.’s 39.2 net punting average was seventh-worst in the NFL. The Rams were one of 10 NFL teams to have a punt blocked this season.
Replacing departing special teams coordinator John Fassel in 2020, Rams special teams coordinator John Bonamego has some work to do this offseason to get better production out of his group.
