Until their final two drives, offense was hard to come by for the Los Angeles Rams in their matchup on Thursday against the Las Vegas Raiders. A boneheaded penalty by the Rams made things even more difficult and came back to bite them in a big way.
The play occurred in the third quarter with the Rams facing a 13-3 deficit. Rams quarterback Baker Mayfield was able to complete a third-down pass to tight end Brycen Hopkins to set up a manageable 46-yard field goal attempt.
However, Rams center Connor Shelton made an awful mistake following the play, getting called for a personal foul penalty for a swipe at a Raiders player’s head.
This penalty certainly made the field goal attempt much more difficult for Rams kicker Matt Gay, and he would go on to miss the 61-yard attempt.
Fans took to social media to blast Shelton for this mistake that ended up potentially costing the Rams three very valuable points in this low-scoring affair.
This certainly did not help a Rams offense that was already struggling in Baker Mayfield’s debut with the team, which is to be expected considering his limited knowledge of the playbook.
The mistake sums up the season for the Los Angeles Rams to this point, and this year’s team is unquestionably a far cry from last year’s team that ended up winning the Super Bowl.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.