How confident are you in LA Rams new kicker Lucas Havrisik?
By Bret Stuter
The LA Rams (3-4) are about to face the Dallas Cowboys (4-2) with an untested kicker, and I for one am not exactly immersed in confidence right now. While I do not disagree that the Rams did not exactly get stellar results from their former kicker, veteran Brett Maher, there is no doubt that Maher was tasked with putting points on the scoreboard after multiple stalled Rams offensive drives.
Drives that ended with long field goal attempts, missed field goals, and prime field position for the opposing team to have when their offense returned to the field. Will new placekicker Lucas Havrisik taking over now, are you any more confident in a different outcome for the Rams under the same circumstances?
I'm not. But I simply cannot cite specific and objective reasons for my apprehension. Perhaps one of the reasons for my uneasy feeling is that there is no track record for Lucas Havrisik from which to form an objective opinion.
LA Rams are in Lucas Havrisik's hands now, or rather on his kicking foot.
Yes, he is a 24 year old native of Riverside California, and competed for a role on the Indianapolis Colts in 2022, and signed on with the Cleveland Browns practice squad for the 2023 NFL season. But kickers who compete on the practice squad do not really 'compete,' at all. Rather, they simply continue to practice and train until the day that they are signed to become the full-time kicker. His moment is now, and he is about to start as the LA Rams field goal kicker.
Even the Rams were not sold on Havrisik, as after signing him, the team held tryouts with a number of veteran kickers. No additional kickers were signed. That means that it's the Lucas Havrisik show for now.
The LA Rams average 3.3 field goal attempts per game, and just under 2.0 extra point attempts per game. Over a 17-game season, that works out to 56 field goal attempts for the season. That leaves 33 field goal attempts left for Havrisik. Hopefully, he can make all of them.