Having two field goals blocked in the same game, let alone the same quarter, let alone one of them to lose the game and allow a touchdown, is never going to be a good day for a special teams coordinator. But Rams special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn knows that the conversation about the blocked attempts is centered on L.A.’s poor offensive line depth and not necessarily his role on the coaching staff.
However, the Rams have had a bad EPA on special teams in all three games so far this season. Should we be talking more about Blackburn’s job security?
What’s wrong with Rams special teams?
Let’s review each game so far and see if it’s really all that bad or if EPA is misleading.
Week 1 – Texans
Josh Karty: 2/2 XP, 0/0 FG
Ethan Evans: 5 punts, 44 Y/P
Xavier Smith: 2 PR, 21 yards, long of 16
Jordan Whittington: 2 KR, 60 yards, long of 32
Special teams got off to a great start, as Evans punted from the Texans 46 and pinned Houston at their own 5. However, on his next attempt, he punted at midfield and it went into the end zone for a touchback.
Evans’ next punt was especially weak, only traveling 49 yards from L.A.‘s 7 and getting returned 10 yards by Jaylin Noel for a net of 39 yards and starting the Texans at the LA46. This ball should have gone at least 60 yards.
After the Rams took a 7-6 lead on a Kyren Williams touchdown with :53 seconds left in the first half, Karty highlighted why L.A. is the best team in the NFL on kickoffs this season and pinned the Texans at their own 23. However, the defense allowed the Texans to get to the LA35 and Ka’imi Fairbairn nailed his attempt from 53, which made him 3-for-3 in the half, including two beyond 50.
Midway through the third quarter, Evans punted from the LA40 and the ball only traveled 46 yards and was again returned 10 yards by Noel. Instead of putting the Texans inside the 20, Evans only had a net of 36 yards. In the fourth quarter, Sean McVay declined the chance to attempt a 56-yard field goal (lack of confidence in Karty’s leg?) and instead punted. Evan was at the HOU39 and he punted it out of bounds, pinning the Texans at the 5.
Nice.
On the ensuing drive, Tommy Townsend punted for the Texans and Xavier Smith returned it for 16 yards. Good, but that’s still a longer net punt than two of Evans’ kicks.
Review:
Karty had no FG attempts and McVay declined a chance to kick from 56. Could you imagine the Cowboys or Lions declining that chance with their kickers? I couldn’t. Yeah, you’re giving up bad field position if you miss, but some kickers do not miss from 56 very often these days. 10 kickers have made at least one field goal from 56+ this season, that’s one-third of the NFL in only three games. Karty went 6-of-7 from 50+ last year and a long of 58. We know he has it.
Evans had two great punts and two really bad punts. How many bad punts is a punter allowed per game?
There’s nothing special about kickoff or punt returns. The Texans probably had more EPA on special teams because Fairbairn scored 10 points and Karty didn’t have any FG attempts. But I’m not sure.
Week 2 – Titans
Josh Karty: 2/2 FG, 3/4 XP
Ethan Evans: 3 punts for 48.3 average, long of 51
Xavier Smith: 2 PR, 7 Y/R
Blake Corum: 3 KR, 26.7 Y/R
I’m not going to review every Rams kickoff. We know the story and it’s working great.
Xavier Smith returns a punt by Johnny Hekker for 14 yards, but again, this kick traveled 57 yards. Maybe Hekker just outkicked the coverage a little bit and the Rams still started at their own 28.
Karty makes an extra point midway through the first quarter. Smith fair catches Hekker’s next punt, pinning the Rams at the TEN10. Evans knocks a punt 51 yards and it’s downed by Whittington at the TEN15.
Nice. However…
This is Ethan Evans longest punt of the season. 51 yards. Not 51 net yards. 51 yards. Among all punters in the NFL, 51 yards is the 30th-best longest punt of 2025. Is that confusing?
29 punters have had a punt longer than Ethan Evans’ longest punt. What’s going on there?
Yeah, he’s only had 9 punts, but we’ve already seen examples of when the punt could have maybe traveled 5-7 yards longer. He had the room. Is he worried about the coverage unit? Is he just not having it yet? What’s going on with this, because we know Evans has the leg?
Joey Slye makes a 55-yard field goal against the Rams in the second quarter. This is the third 50+ FG made against L.A. already. Karty makes a field goal of 21 yards, giving the Rams a 10-3 lead in the second quarter.
Hekker’s next punt is downed at the LA5. No return.
Evans’ next punt from the LA10 only travels 47 yards. It’s returned by Chimere Dike for a touchdown but a penalty negates and the Titans start at their own 44. 47 yards from your own 10?
Also, THIS is a penalty? That’s insane. This is basically the same as allowing a punt return touchdown:
So the Rams special teams EPA should be worse than it already is.
Karty makes another FG from only 21 yards out, tying the score at 13-13.
Slye makes a field goal of 57 yards, the fourth 50+ FG against the Rams.
Hekker punts 55 yards and Smith fair catches it at the LA26.
Evans punts 47 yards and it’s returned 21 yards by Dike for a net of 26 yards. YEESH.
Karty makes an extra point.
Hekker punts 47 yards, no return.
The Rams go up 33-16 on a Corum touchdown but Karty’s XP attempt is blocked. Watch #79 Rob Havenstein on the left side:
Slye makes another FG to end the scoring.
Review:
There’s something wrong with Ethan Evans. Or something wrong with how he’s being coached. Or he’s just randomly having a mediocre season.
Xavier Smith/punt return coverage isn’t good enough to get the returns that other teams seem to be getting against the Rams. That Dike return TD was a real TD, I don’t know what to tell you. The “illegal block” did nothing to help the touchdown. That was just a bad punt/coverage. It was all bad.
We’re seeing the problems with the Rams protecting Karty on kicks and it’s not just because of Beaux Limmer alone. Although that’s a problem too. Either way, 3 blocked kicks in 5 quarters. That’s horrific.
There’s nothing special about kickoff or punt returns. The only thing special about special teams is Karty’s kickoffs.
Teams have LEG when kicking FG against the Rams but does Karty have the leg to compete with the best of the best on field goals?
Week 3 – Eagles
Karty: 4/6 FG 2 blocked, 2/2 XP
Evans: 1 P, 36 yards
Xavier: 4 PR, 13.3 Y/R long of 20
Corum: 5 KR, 23 Y/R
Corum returns the opening kickoff 22 yards, putting the Rams at the 23. He had to return it, but this is not ideal starting field position. His next return is 26 yards, putting LA at the 30. It’s OK. Karty makes his longest FG of the season, 51 yards.
Eagles’ Braden Mann punts from the 15 and it travels 59 yards (see?) and it’s returned 20 yards. A net of 39 yards. Xavier puts Rams at the LA46.
Karty makes an XP.
Mann punts 64 yards (see?) and it’s return 9 yards. There are offsetting penalties.
Karty makes a FG from 28.
Mann punts 57 yards (see?) and it’s return 15 yards. These decent/good returns by Smith are coming off of booming punts, probably outkicking the coverage. The net average is still better than L.A.‘s.
Karty makes a FG from 33.
Mann punts 42 yards from PHI15, his worst of the day, and Xavier returns it 9 yards, into PHI territory. Karty makes a kick from 46 to make it 19-7 Rams at the end of the first half.
Karty’s opening kickoff amazingly pins the Eagles at their own 10 to start the drive. A Jared Verse sack/forced fumble sets up an easy TD for Stafford and the XP is good.
Punting from midfield midway through the third quarter, Evans punt only travels 36 yards but is fair caught at the PHI13. It could have been better but it’s not bad.
4th quarter, Jalen Carter stretches for the first blocked FG:
8:43 later, it happens again:
The Eagles are the first team since 1978 to block two field goals in the fourth quarter.
Review:
2 blocked field goals and we’ll never know if both of them could have been game-winners. Making the first field goal would have given the Rams an 8-point lead and the Eagles failed their two-point conversion attempt on the ensuing drive.
Ethan Evans has an average game. Nothing horrible, nothing special.
Karty is making short kicks when they’re not getting blocked. We haven’t seen him tested very often beyond 40.
The Blake Corum kickoff returns were all to the 30 or less. Nothing special happening on kickoffs yet. Xavier Smith’s punt returns are good, but they mostly come off of 55+ yard punts. There’s more room to return them, especially compared to L.A.‘s punts.
The kickoff game is special. Will it continue for 17 games?
Overall Rams special teams through three games
Ethan Evans
- 36 net yards per punt (26th)
- 44.6 yards per punt (28th)
- %inside the 20—44.4% (6th)
- %touchback—11% (8th-highest/small sample size)
- Long 51 yards (30th)
- Total net yards 324 (24th)
Evans basically had a punt that should have been called a return touchdown. He isn’t booming them, even when he’s in Rams territory. He pinned a couple of punts inside the 10 in the first game but we haven’t seen much of that since.
Last season, Evans was 14th in net yards per punt. It’s okay. He had the 4th-best touchback rate and second-best inside-the-20 rate. Not sure where he left his average distance though and if he can go find it.
The Rams are allowing 14.3 yards per punt return, the 8th-worst mark in the NFL, and that’s not counting Dike’s entire return.
Josh Karty
- 6-of-8 (75%)
- 7-of-8 XP (87.5%)
- 4 touchbacks on KO (9th-highest rate)
It’s really early for comparing FGs. But so far Karty is 3-of-3 on FG attempts inside of 30 yards and 3-of-5 on FG attempts outside of 30 yards, with both of those being blocked. Then of course he had the blocked XP. He hasn’t technically just missed a FG yet, but he hasn’t been put in many long distance situations. Just one of 51 and one of 46. McVay hasn’t been able to test him very often. He turned down a chance from 56.
The kickoffs are great. The Ramsa re allowing 13.5 yards per KO return, the best in the NFL. It’s hard to really judge his FG accuracy without many attempts and all of his high-leverage attempts getting blocked.
KO / Punt Return
I have confidence in Xavier Smith as a punt returner, but is he a Pro Bowler in the role? Maybe not. If the Rams had to use someone else on punt returns, would we notice?
The Kickoff returns have been average or below-average.
FG against
For some reason, the Rams just happen to be getting a little sloshed by other teams making field goals. Teams are 7-of-7 on their attempts including a few really long ones by Fairbairn and Slye. It happens, but the Rams certainly aren’t blocking any like they’re allowing to be blocked.
Punts against
Teams have a 52.3 Y/P average against the Rams, the fourth-longest in the NFL this season. The NFL’s lowest mark is the Ravens at 40.5 yards per punt against. That’s 12 yards of field position.
Average Field Position
The Rams average starting field position is 35.1 (1st) and the average against them is 25.2 (2nd). That’s huge.
Do the Rams have a special teams problem?
Well yeah, we know that they have at least one, right? They’ve allowed three kicks to be blocked in the last two weeks. That’s a huge problem!
We also know that Ethan Evans has been bad, or the punt coverage unit has been bad, and really it’s a combination of both. Field Goal/XP unit has a major problem and punting has been bad through three games. Those are realities.
There’s absolutely nothing special about the punt return or kickoff return units.
There’s something special about Karty’s kickoffs.
And that’s where we stand on the Rams special teams: There is more bad than there is good. There just happens to be one thing that’s ELITE and everything else is below-average or bad. The best we can say about Karty as a FG kicker is that we haven’t seen him get enough opportunities yet.
Overall, should Chase Blackburn fear for his job? Probably not yet. But he’s not trending in a very good direction if the Rams special teams continues to perform as they have in these first three games. McVay fired Joe DeCamillis in 2023 after only one season with the team, opening the door for Blackburn. This is his third season with the team and so far I don’t know that he’s done enough to earn slack in that time.
The only time you’re worried as a special teams coordinator is when fans start knowing your name. After Sunday’s loss to the Eagles, Blackburn’s name is going to start coming up a lot more often.
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