Bills’ and Rams’ Fatal Flaws Exposed Again in Classic Shootout

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The Bills frequently attacked a glaring weakness in the middle of the Rams’ defense that made them productive and predictable.

Linebacker Nate Landman launching himself whenever star running back James Cook III came up the middle was supposed to be the solution that would get the Rams to overcome their sluggish defense. But Landman’s punchouts weren’t going to fix the Rams’ other weakness, which has been a problem for years now. 

Once again, the Rams’ special teams issues put them on the wrong end of a highly entertaining game. It happened in Seattle twice last season, which hindered their Super Bowl hopes. And it happened again on Monday night against the Bills in what might be the game of the year so far. A lot occurred in the Bills outlasting the Rams, 37–34, in overtime. It’s difficult to remember certain key plays in the back-and-forth thriller. 

However, it’s impossible to forget that the Rams have special teams problems, even if coach Sean McVay and GM Les Snead don’t acknowledge that with their personnel decisions. I’m sure the Rams will soon open the kicking job, which they should have done a long time ago, after Harrison Mevis missed the potential game-winning 48-yard field goal in overtime. He also missed a 50-yard attempt in the first quarter. The second one was tipped at the line by linebacker Greg Rousseau—another costly special teams miscue—but the first one missed outright.

And now that I’m remembering other parts of this wild Monday Night Football clash, the Rams fell behind 6–0 because of special teams miscues. They also gave up a 70-yard return to Ray Davis on the opening kickoff, which led to the first of two Tyler Bass field goals in the first quarter. 

Buffalo doesn’t have a kicker problem, as Bass drilled the game-winning 45-yard field goal with 1:55 left in the extra period. That alone makes the Bills better than the Rams. Yes, the Bills have defensive issues, but winning high-scoring affairs is easier when special teams are capable of execution when they hit the field.

Stafford and company are great—maybe the best offense in football—but they’re going to continue to be on the wrong side of close games because they can’t defend or even hold kicker tryouts. It’s head-scratching that the Rams didn’t have a kicker competition in the summer.  

But let’s put aside the Rams’ glaring weaknesses because what transpired at SoFi Stadium between the Rams and Bills needs to be soaked in, even if only briefly. Matthew Stafford and Josh Allen—the last two MVPs—trading touchdown drives for most of the primetime battle was certainly a sight to see. Many left the stadium shaking their heads at all the chaos that transpired on Monday night. Allen rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown and added 210 yards, one touchdown and one interception through the air. Stafford was 40-of-50 for 383 yards and three touchdowns.  

O.K., I can’ get over the bad defense. Let’s put the amazing offense on hold again. It’s highly concerning that the Rams’ star-studded defense had no answers for stopping the Bills’ rushing attack of Cook and Allen. And the same can be said for how Stafford knifed through Buffalo’s secondary for four quarters. 

What we saw Monday night was a shootout between two Super Bowl contenders. Or perhaps two pretenders because it’s tough to win a Lombardi Trophy without a formidable defense.

In the final two minutes of regulation, the Rams and Bills, predictably, took turns orchestrating touchdown drives. L.A.’s interior defense, which is filled with notable names, including Aaron Donald, was embarrassed by the juking Allen, who had a 21-yard run before Cook delivered the go-ahead rushing score with 1:39 remaining. That was enough time for Stafford to play catch with Davante Adams and Puka Nacua before handing the ball off to Kyren Williams for the one-yard tying score and forcing overtime. 

Perhaps we can chalk up these poor defensive performances Monday night as one bad game against two of the league’s best offenses. Sometimes it just goes that way, and through five weeks of the 2026 season, offense has gotten the best of the defense. 

Last year, it was the return of the defense with Denver, Seattle and New England riding their stout units to championship Sunday. The fourth team was the Rams, who leaned on their offense to get to the NFC title game, but spent the offseason repairing their defense with the trades for Trent McDuffie and Myles Garrett (who missed Monday’s game while on IR). 

Defense mattered last year, but maybe not so much this season. The Texans’ defense hasn’t been as mighty and was carved up by Allen and the Bills in Week 1. On Sunday, the Seahawks’ defense gave up 32 points to the 49ers and had no answers for containing Mike Evans. (Seattle also gave up 31 points to the Marcus Mariota–led Commanders in Week 3.)

With what has occurred through the first quarter of the season, perhaps having a great offense and a bad defense will be enough to win a Super Bowl in 2026. But as we learned on Monday, and most of the Rams’ 2025 season, it’s practically impossible to win a Super Bowl with terrible special teams. 

One-score games are going to happen in this league. Someone should have reminded Snead and McVay about that before throwing all of their resources into trades for Garrett and McDuffie and convincing Donald to end his two-year retirement. 

Perhaps the last time the Rams weren’t bad on special teams was in 2021, when they had Matt Gay kicking and Johnny Hekker doing the punting. That was also the year the Rams won it all. It’s clear by now where the Rams’ Super Bowl–or–bust season is headed if they can’t fix their disastrous special teams group.