The Los Angeles Rams picked up their third loss of the season when they fell to the Buffalo Bills in overtime on Monday night. The narrative of the game was centered around kicker Harrison Mevis' two missed kicks. His first field goal attempt was a flat-out miss from 50 yards in regulation. His second kick was blocked by Bills outside linebacker Greg Rousseau in overtime.
However, the protection isn't totally to blame for the block. The trajectory of the ball did not look clean, coming off low and to the left.
During his radio interview with ESPN Los Angeles, head coach Sean McVay was asked about the play and whether the failure was poor protection or a bad kick.
McVay indicated the kick likely would have been no good, even if Rousseau didn't get his hand to it.
"(Rousseau) swung the C-area and we played a little bit too low, and that's where he got in there," he said. "But unfortunately, the trajectory of the kick was way off already, and so him being able to block that, the kick was not in alignment with what would have been deemed good, and we got to be better with the protection. We've got to consistently execute in that phase, and it is the greatest team sport that there is. But it was just a swim C. He swam the C gap. We were a little bit low with our pad level, and that's where he got in there, but the trajectory of that kick did not look good from the start."
It makes sense why the Rams felt they had to part ways with Mevis. Even with the failures of the special teams, there were no excuses for his poor form this season. Those were his third and fourth misses in five games this season. After being cut this week, Mevis ends his Rams career having never missed an extra point or a playoff kick, but he did miss five field goals.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: McVay: Trajectory of Harrison Mevis' blocked FG was 'way off'