The Rams could not pull away from — and then lost to — the underdog Steelers in their Week 7 matchup, and they have a growing special teams problem to blame for it. Falling 24-17 on Sunday, Los Angeles saw veteran kicker Brett Maher miss multiple field goal tries for the third time this season, dropping his conversion percentage to one of the lowest in the league.
Maher, who signed with the Rams just before the season, missed two different attempts from beyond 50 yards Sunday, with his second try sailing wide left while L.A. led 17-10 late in the third quarter. He did connect on a 41-yarder, finishing 1 of 3, but is now 17 of 23 on the year (74%). He entered Week 7 tied for second among all kickers in FGs made (16) but previously missed two different attempts in both Weeks 1 and 4.
The Rams won their season opener, 30-13, against the Seahawks despite Maher’s two misses. But things weren’t nearly as smooth in Week 4, when his pair of misses on another 3 of 5 performance helped the Colts send L.A. to overtime, where the Rams won 29-23.
His FG conversion percentage is now clearly the worst among the top 10 kickers in terms of total points and FGs made.
The 33-year-old Maher spent three of his previous four seasons with the Cowboys, hitting 78 of 98 FG tries (79.6%) between 2018-2022. The Rams are his ninth NFL team since he went undrafted out of Nebraska in 2013, but he also spent much of 2014-2016 in the CFL. His predecessor, Matt Gay, hit 74 of 80 FGs (92.5%) in three years with the Rams before landing a lucrative deal with the Colts in free agency this offseason.
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Author: Cody Benjamin
October 22, 2023 | 7:10 pm
