The Los Angeles Rams suffered a bizarre and unacceptable defeat to the Buffalo Bills on Monday night, falling to 2-3 on the season.
Here are five takeaways from the overtime loss.
The special teams are atrocious, and Ventrone is doomed to fail
It's like the egg and the chicken. Which came first? For the Rams, what fails first? The players on special teams or special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone? We've written about this unit for too long to mince words. It's been abysmal – for years. Sure, they might have the returner role figured out in a non-explosive way, but the kicking game cost Los Angeles the game.
Harrison Mevis suffered his third and fourth missed field goals of the season, hooking a 50-yard attempt before his 48-yard attempt to win the game in overtime was blocked. If he can't make his kicks, and no other kicker is able to emulate his hop-step kick method, what can this team do? Especially when his hop-step is the only thing preventing the opposition from blocking kicks, and that's not even happening anymore.
Under Bubba Ventrone, they've regressed, which is disturbing because they were already seemingly at rock bottom. Is it coaching? Is it a lack of talent? Does it matter anymore? The Rams are too comfortable being mediocre, and that's why they always fall short in the postseason, even while their stars ball out.
Landman is becoming a liability in space
Nate Landman's inability to tackle in open space, especially as the game went on, allowed Josh Allen to turn short scrambles into big gains. He almost saved the night with his forced fumble on James Cook, but that all went away on the next drive. It's not entirely his fault, as this is a square peg-round hole situation. But in their nickel and dime defenses, Landman is left on an island, and it makes him look bad.
The Rams needed a coverage linebacker. They don't have one, and dual-threat quarterbacks and running backs have been taking notice. Who do you think they're running past?
The defensive back usage and play have been way too poor
Quentin Lake looked like he shook off his poor Week 1 performance over these last several games, before suffering a complete letdown. Khalil Shakir has proven once again that Lake struggles against shorter pass catchers who are shifty and have a low center of gravity. Trent McDuffie is supposed to take on those types of players, but the Rams didn't invest enough on the outside, forcing McDuffie to play outside more than he should.
The team is nothing defensively without Jaylen Watson, which is a massive red flag, and it's clear that the top offensive minds in the NFC will always have an answer for the defense. They have to hope Myles Garrett can change things because they will struggle unless they can drop seven into coverage consistently.
Nacua's presence stifles ball distribution
Puka Nacua was once again spectacular. He caught 17 passes for 138 yards and a touchdown off 24 targets from Matthew Stafford. Stafford tossed 54 total passes. The tight ends did their thing, but once again, Davante Adams saw his targets reduced to only seven.
The offense did their job tonight; this is not a criticism of them. Nacua does what he does, and Stafford is smart to feed the hot hand. However, it feels like there's a bigger opportunity to use Nacua to pop open Adams, especially outside the red zone. Adams went toe-to-toe against the New York Giants and Denver Broncos, forcing both sides to use multiple defensive backs to scheme him out of the game ... and it didn't even work.
Adams and Nacua should be even more prolific than Tee Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase. The play calls and designs simply do not support that ideal. It's either/or, even though both men have had monster days together in years past.
McVay is being painted into a corner
What else can he do? He can't overhaul his roster in the middle of the season; the special teams issues go beyond simple fixes, the offense can't do much better, and his defense continues to struggle against the same old things. Genuinely, what else can Sean McVay do right now to make his team better?
At some point, we are going to have to accept that the only way Los Angeles wins a Super Bowl is if Stafford, Nacua, and Donald perform at a level we have yet to see, because not only do they have to defeat their opponent, they also have to overcome their propensity to beat themselves.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: 5 takeaways from Rams' heartbreaking loss to Bills