3 LA Rams players who earned their horns against Chargers

Return specialist

It was obvious that the LA Rams wanted someone to stand out in the special teams’ return game in the preseason. But folks, running back Raymond Calais completely overshot the mark. While he didn’t single-handedly restore special into the special team’s play, he certainly made the association seem more obvious.

He touched the ball three times in the return game against the Chargers and delivered 81 yards by advancing the ball once on a kickoff and twice on punts. In fact, it was his 46-yard scorching punt return that set up the LA Rams offense to score its one and only touchdown of the evening. It was the turning point of the first half. That moment of building something very positive out of the defense finding resolve to force their opponent to punt the ball. That led to running back Raymond Calais making them pay for doing so.

Of course, part of the return game was predicated on good clean returns, and Calais certainly benefited from no penalties on those three plays for solid positive yardage. His night would have been complete if he was effective running the ball. But his 14 yards gained on seven carries seemed to be more based on the struggles of the offensive line to run block on the evening. While the team works to clean all that up in practice this week, it seemed to me that the team has the primary return guy.

The LA Rams needed Raymond Calais to step up in this one. Whether he knows it or not, he exhibited exactly what the new ST Coordinator Joe DeCamillis is looking for this year. Calais showed patience, consistency, and he was able to impact the momentum in the game  After all, isn’t that what the LA Rams seemed to be missing in 2020? Sure, it’s just one game, but this wasn’t the LA Chargers pickup squad. This was their best. If Raymond Calais can put those types of returns up against them, he certainly will have a spot on the LA Rams roster.