One unit that usually flies under the radar or many forgets about is the special teams unit. During the Los Angeles Rams five-game winning streak, the special teams have been great. On punts, returns, coverage, and field goals, the team can do it all well. Special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn has done an excellent job with his unit.
Going into the playoffs the unit gives the Rams another advantage. In the playoffs, momentum can change instantly. It can come from the special teams, not just on offense and defense. Flipping the field or making a long field goal, just to name a few can make the difference from a team advancing to the next round.
"I think [Special Teams Coordinator] Chase [Blackburn] and we've had a couple different guys helping, but [Assistant Special Teams] Coach [Craig] Aukerman has been outstanding for the last couple of weeks," said Rams head coach Sean McVay.
"Michael Hoecht has been a guy that has made a big impact on the field goal block unit all year and he’s been really close. He had one earlier in the year and then he got his second one yesterday. He had the one against New England and then ended up having one yesterday. He’s done an excellent job overall and some people just have a knack for it. I think our punt unit has done a good job when we've decided to be able to come after it. A few weeks ago with [Jacob] Jake Hummel getting the big block that led to Hunter Long's touchdown. I've been really pleased with that group as a whole and that’s been a real positive for us.”
The Rams also have one of the best punters in the NFL in Ethan Evans.
"I think Ethan [Evans] has been excellent on the short field punts all year and has consistently been able to pin opponents deep ... Ethan has really been able to be consistently accurate, does an excellent job of pinning opponents deep in territory and forcing them to go to length. If you look at last week, we got a couple down, one inside the one [yard line]. I believe there were three inside the 10 so an excellent job by Ethan and really the unit as a whole.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/rams/ as Sean McVay Sounds Off on the Massive Impact of Rams' Special Teams .