The Rams are finding out the hard way that Harrison Mevis is not solving one of football’s simplest jobs.
He’s been steady on the easy stuff. Mevis has not missed an extra point this season, and he was 12 of 13 on field goals last regular season, then went 6-for-6 in the playoffs.
That part of the profile looks fine on paper. The trouble starts when the ball moves beyond that comfort zone.
This year, Mevis is only 3-of-5 on kicks from at least 40 yards, and one of those misses came from 48 yards against the Philadelphia Eagles. That miss mattered, but it was not the loudest sign of the Rams’ problem.
The bigger tell came later when Los Angeles passed on a field goal chance and instead kept the offense on the field for a fourth-and-eight from the Eagles’ 36. The Rams failed to convert, but the decision itself said plenty.
Sean McVay is not treating Mevis like a kicker he can lean on. Outside the 30, he has repeatedly chosen to chase fourth-and-medium rather than trust a field goal that, in today’s NFL, should be routine.
That’s not an accident. It’s a coach making a calculation based on confidence, or the lack of it.
Mevis also helped put the Rams in a dangerous spot with a kickoff after their first of two fourth-quarter touchdowns, shanking the ball out of bounds and handing the Eagles the ball at their own 40. Philadelphia was in position to close the door, and the Rams’ defense had to clean up the mess.
None of this means Mevis has been useless. He’s handled the short kicks, and those matter.
But the Rams are learning that the margins on a kicker can cut both ways. Any small edge he gives them on chip shots gets swallowed up fast if McVay keeps passing on longer attempts because he doesn’t trust the leg.
That’s the real issue here. It’s not just the misses from 43 and 48.
It’s the wider ripple effect: fourth downs that become necessary, field-goal tries that never happen, and end-of-half chances that may never be taken because Mevis doesn’t have the range. How many of those situations will cost the Rams before they make a change?
Matthew Stafford can still be lethal when the game tightens up. Give him 45 seconds and no timeouts while trailing by three, and he can get Los Angeles into field-goal range.
But this offense is not going to live in the end zone every time it needs points. Even with the Rams finding the end zone on Sunday, that’s not a safe assumption.
A good offense can live with flaws. A flawed offense needs a kicker who can actually kick.
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What followed looked like the kind of tense aftermath that can happen when a road team wins in Philadelphia, especially in a matchup with as much edge as this one. The clip showed fans reacting by throwing drinks, and security eventually stepped in to break things up, leaving a messy finish to a game the Rams will remember for the result as much as the drama around it. [Read more 🡒]