Rams caught napping as Raheem Morris lures ideal free agent to sign with Falcons

The Los Angeles Rams are in quite a pickle, perhaps of their own making. From the first signs of kicking problems for field goals, the team had an opportunity to create kicker competition by signing someone to the practice squad. That never happened, and now second-year kicker Joshua Karty appears to be in a dark death spiral as he continues to struggle.

The bad news is that the Rams have a major kicking problem just hours before the NFL trade deadline. The good news is that the team can address the problem by making this trade, or one like it.

But as the committee forms and strategies are discussed, the Atlanta Falcons and their head coach, Raheem Morris, just got the drop on Los Angeles. They worked out veteran kicker Zane Gonzalez and will be signing him after he impressed the coaching staff. To make room, the team is waiving former kicker Parker Romo.

In case you are wondering, Parker Romo's accuracy would be a marked upgrade over what Los Angeles is getting out of Joshua Karty right now. But as we've learned, the issue is not just the kicker. The entire field goal kicking operation is struggling right now, and everyone involved is contributing to the embarrassing performance.

Rams are oh-so-close but FG unit is a huge problem

Might Zane Gonzalez have been a fit for ST coordinator Chase Blackburn? We'll never know, as the Falcons acted more quickly and decisively than LA's front office. But it's hard to act decisively when no decisions have been made. Therein lies the rub.

What exactly is the problem?

While the team has yet to diagnose exactly what is going wrong, a new path to getting things back on track has just developed. With the release of Parker Romo, general manager Les Snead can sign him to the practice squad after he clears waivers. From there, the team can troubleshoot the entire field goal operation to determine how much responsibility falls on Joshua Karty.

This move is not the least bit surprising. The Falcons attribute their loss to the field goal kicker, and the result of that typically means that kicker's release. What is perplexing is that LA has two losses due to blocked field goals, and so far, nothing has been done.

Will the team address the issue? With the San Francisco 49ers on the doorstep as the Week 10 opponent, corrective action may be too late. And so, here we go. Stay tuned.

And by all means, thank you for reading.