The Los Angeles Rams lost to the Baltimore Ravens in stunning fashion on Sunday, allowing a 76-yard punt return for a touchdown in overtime. It was the latest example of the Rams’ special teams struggles, failing to get Tylan Wallace on the ground despite having multiple opportunities to tackle the speedy return man.
While the Rams have no one to blame but themselves, some fans are pointing their fingers at the officials for missing an apparent block in the back by the Ravens. It happened early in the return and while it very easily could’ve been a penalty to negate the touchdown, Sean McVay isn’t wasting any of his energy on any potential fouls by Baltimore on the play.
“No,” McVay told J.B. Long on the “Coach McVay Show” when asked if it’s worth his time to look for a flag on the play. “I mean, I think you look to be able to create clarity in terms of, what are the things these guys are looking at how it’s being officiated? It’d drive you crazy because you think you understand exactly what should be called, and it wasn’t. There’s going to be things like that that sometimes benefit us and sometimes don’t. Our job is to try to take out the margin for error for imperfect situations.”
Another bad one for the officials. Missed block in the back by the Ravens on their game-winning punt return TD. https://t.co/C3zNUHz2j4 pic.twitter.com/tbT9IRdDXh
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) December 10, 2023
Instead of focusing on what could have been with regards to any potential penalties on the play, McVay is more worried about the Rams’ six missed tackles and a poor directional punt by Ethan Evans.
“There was a lot of opportunities to be able to make the play on that given punt return that wasn’t just exclusive to the block in the back,” he continued. “We had six missed tackles on that play, we didn’t get the location where we wanted. We’ll learn from it, we’ll move on. I could sit here and be upset about it but it is wasted energy.”
Special teams has been a problem for the Rams all season and the poor coverage on Baltimore’s game-winning touchdown was just another example of that. It’s something the Rams must improve, from the kicking operation to punt coverage to their own return game.
