It may as well have just been another day that ends in “y” for the Los Angeles Rams in their 37-34 overtime loss to the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football. Last season, the Rams lined up for a 44-yard field goal to beat the Philadelphia Eagles. The kick was blocked and the Rams lost. On Monday night, Harrison Mevis lined up for a 48-yard field goal to beat the Bills from the same hash. The kick was blocked and five plays later the Bills kicked a game-winning field goal of their own.
The Rams put up 454 yards of total offense. Matthew Stafford threw for 383 yards and three touchdowns. While the defense didn’t play well, they got a timely turnover in overtime to give the Rams a chance to win. Once again, it was the special teams unit letting them down when it mattered most.
Rams' Special Teams Problems Continue to Cost Them Games
It’s been the common theme for the Rams going back to last season. Three losses can be pinned on special teams in 2025. Every week this year, the Rams have had some sort of special teams mistake. On Monday night, the game ended the same way it started. To open the game, the Rams allowed a 70-yard kickoff return. As it ended, it was the special teams failing to rise to the occasion.
Entering Week 5, the Rams needed a win to keep pace in the NFC West. With the San Francisco 49ers beating the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, they improved to 5-0. A loss to the Bills now puts the Rams 3.5 games behind the 49ers and below .500 for the third time this season.
Coming off of last week’s win against the Philadelphia Eagles, it felt like the Rams had turned a corner. When they drove 98 yards to start the 10-point comeback, it felt like the Rams found something.
That continued early on Monday night. While they only scored seven first-half points, the offense was moving the ball. Mevis missed a 50-yard field goal and then a penalty stalled another promising drive. The Rams’ first two possessions combined for 28 plays and lasted 14:58. Despite the Rams taking the lead when Stafford found Adams in the end zone, the Bills answered with a touchdown of their own.
Defensively, the Rams limited Allen and the Bills’ passing game for most of the night with most of the big plays coming via screens and in the run game.However, it was the Bills’ 26th-ranked pass defense that also initially limited Stafford. Stafford was just 16-for-23 for 99 yards in the first half, but his longest completion was only 12 yards. He was just 2-for-7 beyond 10 yards.
The Rams wasted little time getting going in the second half, scoring a touchdown on their opening possession. It was the first time all season that the Rams had scored on their opening drive of either half.
Rams' Offense Comes Alive in Second Half
What started as a defensive battle ended in an offensive shootout. Despite previous inconsistency, Stafford came to life. To end regulation, the Rams and Bills traded six straight touchdown drives. When the Bills took a 19-14 lead, the Rams answered with a six-play, 83-yard touchdown drive of their own. The Rams’ offense struggled to find explosive plays in the first half, but it was a 28-yard pass to Tyler Higbee and then a Corum catch-and-run for 34 yards to set up a Stafford pass to Nacua in the end zone.
Nacua finished with a career-high 17 catches on 24 targets for 138 yards. Other Rams wide receivers combined for six catches for 55 yards. Nacua was the centerpiece of the offense.
After the Bills went 80 yards in five plays and converted a two-point conversion to take a 27-20 lead, the Rams answered again. On a day when the defense struggled to get a stop, the offense kept stepping up to the plate. Stafford hit Tyler Higbee on a no-look pass for 30 yards and then found Davante Adams in the end zone for his second touchdown of the day.
The Bills responded with another touchdown, scoring with 1:39 left to play and leaving the Rams with just one timeout. As Stafford has throughout his career, he rose to the occasion when the pressure was at its highest in the fourth quarter.
Stafford hit a 14-yard pass to Adams before hitting Nacua for 16. With another 15-yard completion to Adams, the Rams were already in the red zone with 47 seconds still left on the clock. On 3rd-and-7 from the nine-yard line, Stafford lasered a pass to Kyren Williams at the one-yard line before the Rams’ running back finished it on the next play with a run up the middle to tie the game at 34 with four seconds remaining.
While the Rams won the toss in overtime, they opted to kick to the Bills. Earlier in the game, linebacker Nate Landman forced a fumble on running back James Cook, but the Bills came out of the pile with the ball. After a 57-yard catch-and-run by Khalil Shakir, the Bills looked in position to score a seventh consecutive touchdown.
However, on the next play, Landman forced a second fumble, and this time it was the Rams’ defense that came away with the ball. It was Landman’s first forced fumble that resulted in a turnover since Week 11 of last season.
Given how the offense had moved the ball in the fourth quarter, the Rams looked to be in prime position to win. Stafford navigated the pocket to find Davis Allen for 21 yards and then hit Nacua for 21 two plays later.
Sean McVay's Conservative Approach Comes Back to Haunt Rams
Had McVay continued to call the offense as he had for the previous quarter, it’s hard to say that the Rams wouldn’t have eventually ended up with the ball in the end zone.However, from the 35-yard line, McVay called an under-center pass that went incomplete. On the next play, McVay called a screen to Nacua that went five yards. Facing 3rd-and-5 from the 30, McVay called a run play that gained zero yards.
Despite having a kicker who was 1-for-3 from 48 yards in his career and 4-for-7 beyond 45 yards, McVay got conservative and seemed content with a long field goal. Mevis had missed from 50 yards earlier in the game and from 48 yards last week against the Eagles.
For as aggressive as McVay has been at times over the last year, this was his former self taking over with the game on the line. Earlier in the game, the Rams went for it twice on fourth down, including a 4th-and-6. In large part because of the inconsistent field goal unit, McVay’s fourth-down decision-making has become more aggressive. Yet, while going for the win against the Bills on Monday, McVay’s conservative side took over and it was costly.
Greg Rousseau, who had been quiet most of the game, split through the line and blocked Mevis’ kick. After runs of 19 and 13 yards by Allen, the Bills were in field goal range. While Tyler Bass missed a long extra point earlier in the game, there was no doubt about his game-winner from 45.
Rams Face Growing Questions After Falling to 2-3
With the loss to the Bills, the Rams now fall to 2-3. The Rams can certainly bounce back from this loss and could realistically sit at 7-3 at their bye week. At the same time, the Rams will undoubtedly feel a sense of major disappointment after letting this game slip away.
Until this team proves otherwise, it’s hard not to compare them to the 2010 Chargers, who had a top offense and defense but were plagued by special teams. We’re five weeks into the season and talking about special teams every single week. How many more games do the Rams have to lose because of special teams?
Do the Rams fire Bubba Ventrone five games into the season after hiring him? At this point, do the Rams make a change at kicker? One thing is certain and that’s that the Rams can’t continue going into games with this special teams unit and call it good. Simply saying “It needs to be better” is no longer good enough.
Coming into the season, very few would have expected the Rams to be sitting at 2-3 after five games. At this point, they are no different than the 2011 Philadelphia Eagles who entered the season as a “dream team” only to be a major disappointment.
Again, that’s not to say that this Rams team can’t turn it around. Myles Garrett will return to action and it’s possible that they find their stride. However, is this a hole that the Rams can get themselves out of? The playoffs are certainly still in play, but this is a team that had higher goals.
Rams Are Running Out of Excuses
The Rams have gone from inventing new ways to lose, to running out of ways and now repeating themselves. At some point, these losses have stopped being frustrating exceptions and have started becoming part of the Rams' identity.
This is a roster with the talent to beat anybody on any given day. However, the Rams have also shown an alarming ability to beat themselves. Between 2021 and 2025, the Rams were penalized 10 or more times in a game twice. They’ve been penalized 10 or more times twice in the last three games.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Changes need to be made. The season is far from over, but the Rams are running out of excuses. These types of losses are no longer insane. They're becoming the norm.
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