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Sarah Barshop, ESPN Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES — The Rams will replace kicker Lucas Havrisik with a familiar face, bringing back kicker Brett Maher, coach Sean McVay said Monday.
Havrisik missed two extra points in Sunday’s 26-25 victory over the New York Giants.
Los Angeles has missed 15 combined field goals and extra points, the most of any team this season, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. Six of those field goal misses and one missed extra point were by Maher in the Rams’ first seven games.
The Rams cut Maher after their 24-7 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 7, where Maher missed two field goals and an extra point. The Rams signed Maher last offseason to replace kicker Matt Gay, who signed a four-year, $22.5 million contract with the Indianapolis Colts during free agency.
McVay said Monday that because the Rams have clinched a playoff spot, it “definitely changes a little bit of the dialogue in regards to what we know we have coming down the pipe.”
“And so [we] wanted to get somebody in here that had some experience,” McVay said. “… I think when you look at some of the earlier situations he was in, we asked him to attempt a lot of long field goals. He was fairly consistent when you’re talking about some of those field goals from under 50 and in.”
Earlier this season with Los Angeles, Maher was 7-of-7 on field goals under 40 yards, 7-of-9 on field goals from 40-49 yards and 3-of-7 on field goals 50 yards or longer.
“There [were] some opportunities when you want to have some patience, you don’t want to rush to judgment,” McVay said. “I think there were some good things that Lucas [Havrisik] did, but I think the overall consistency, especially when you’re talking about some of those shorter-range kicks that we expect to be at a higher percentage. We just weren’t coming through enough and we felt like the move was going to be in the best interest of our group.”
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