LOS ANGELES — On Monday night, Blake Grupe was on his couch watching Harrison Mevis’ game-winning field-goal attempt get blocked. On Tuesday, he was flying to Los Angeles to replace Mevis as the Rams’ new kicker.
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It’s not the first time Grupe’s life has been uprooted midseason, and he’s trying to settle in as the Rams try to get their kicking units – and special teams in general – in order after a disappointing 2-3 start to the season.
“All about getting comfortable,” Grupe said. “A lot of new, but it’s something that I’ve done before. You really just take one thing at a time. At the end of the day, kicking the ball between the uprights is the main thing.”
The Rams decided they needed better production out of the kicker position after Mevis’ 5-for-9 start to the season. Head coach Sean McVay, special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone and General Manager Les Snead met Tuesday morning to finalize their plans after some film scouring by the Rams’ pro personnel department.
It is the second year in a row that the Rams have made a midseason kicker change. As they prepare for Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals (1-4), McVay will lean on that experience as he gauges how much he can trust Grupe in certain situations.
“There’s a quiet confidence,” McVay said of Grupe. “He has kicked, which is part of the reason that we felt confident signing, in these types of settings. … I do feel confident based on what I’ve seen and then his experience to put him out there and go execute at a high level for us.”
The kicker gets most of the attention, because he is the point scorer on special teams. But the unit as a whole has been an albatross around the Rams’ necks this year. The Rams’ special teams are last in the NFL with -28.0 expected points added (EPA).
McVay expressed his confidence in Ventrone on Tuesday and said he does not anticipate making a change at coordinator as he did a year ago with Chase Blackburn. On Friday, McVay said he and the coaching staff are trying to evaluate each play on its own instead of making sweeping conclusions.
“I want [Ventrone] to know that I’m right there to help,” McVay said. “Let’s be solution-oriented. There’s a problem or there’s some things, what are the solves, how do we provide it to the players and then give them ultimately the best chance to consistently bring it to life?”
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Coverage on kickoffs and punt returns have become an area of focus after big returns of 41 and 70 yards against the Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills each of the last two weeks.
But those two have been something of outliers. Outside of the 41-yarder, the Rams gave up an average of 10.7 yards per punt return in Weeks 4 and 5. In the same time span, the Rams allowed an average 19.8-yard kickoff return outside of the one 70-yarder.
So Ventrone is trying to focus on eliminating “self-inflicted wounds” instead of revamping the entire scheme.
“Honestly, I feel like we just need to be more consistent overall,” Ventrone said. “Because there’s times where we look really good. And then there’s times where there’s a breakdown or there’s a loss of leverage or we’re not playing the right technique or we’re not getting a great ball. I think just eliminating the bad football.”
INJURY REPORT
Rams cornerback Trent McDuffie felt “something” in his groin at the end of Thursday’s practice, McVay said. He did not practice Friday and is listed as questionable for the game against the Cardinals.
“He’s got the right mindset and mentality and we’ll see where we’re at with that,” McVay said. “We’ll obviously be smart with him.”
Tight end Davis Allen (ankle) was limited in Friday’s practice, but McVay said he is “trending in the right direction” to play Sunday. Safety Kam Curl (ankle) did not practice on Friday, but McVay said the Rams were optimistic he would be able to play against Arizona.
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