Rams need to find out what they have in Harrison Mevis…and fast

It wouldn’t be a season of Los Angeles Rams football without some drama at the kicker position. The Rams had one of the worst field goal operations in the NFL over the first eight weeks of the season. Whether it was an issue with the blocking, the holding, or the actual kicker, it seemed as if something was going wrong every week.

While the Rams didn’t cut kicker Joshua Karty, they did bring in some competition. Over the past two weeks, the Rams have kept Karty on the 53-man roster, but elevated Harrison Mevis from the practice squad. While somewhat unconventional to use a roster spot on a kicker that isn’t being used, it has worked in recent weeks.

Assuming the Rams do the same this week and activate Mevis from the practice squad, they will face a decision heading into their Week 13 game against the Carolina Panthers. As mentioned, the Rams have activated Mevis from the practice squad for the game twice this season. With that said, each practice squad player is only eligible to be elevated up to the roster three times per season. To be activated a fourth time, the player must be signed to the active roster.

Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will mark the third and final time that Mevis is eligible to be activated. After that, the Rams would have to sign Mevis to the active roster. It’s unlikely that the Rams would keep two kickers on the active roster and therefore would need to make a decision.

In a sense, Mevis has added some stability to the kicking game. He is 9-for-9 on extra points. However, extra points also weren’t necessarily a struggle for Karty. Karty had made eight of his previous nine extra points and the one that he missed was because he was kicking into the laces. It is worth noting that against the San Francisco 49ers, Evans once again failed to get the ball turned and Mevis made the extra point kicking into the laces.

It’s a good thing that the Rams haven’t had to settle for field goals over the last two games. At the same time, they also haven’t been able to truly test Mevis in a live game setting. Against the 49ers, the Rams opted not to kick a 58-yard field goal and decided to punt instead. Later in the game, the Rams (correctly) went for it on 4th-and-3 instead of kicking a 45-yard field goal. The same can be said against the Seattle Seahawks. McVay (correctly) went for it on 4th-and-1 inside the ten-yard line twice. They also (correctly) went for it on 4th-and-1 from the 35-yard line, bypassing a 52-yard field goal.

The Rams have made the correct decisions by going for it, but it is worth wondering how much trust McVay has in the field goal operation. Mevis has been signed with the Rams for two games and hasn’t had to make a field goal longer than 33 yards.

When the...