Top Rams players from the 2022 season, No. 4: Matt Gay – msnNOW
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The 2022 Los Angeles Rams season featured a lot of changing parts. Franchise cornerstone Andrew Whitworth retired after the Super Bowl. 2021 mid-season trade acquisition Von Miller went east and joined the Buffalo Bills. Robert Woods was traded to the Tennessee Titans. And Odell Beckham Jr went unsigned as he recovered from an ACL tear. From Week 1, the Rams started losing starters to injuries. This forced new names into more prominent roles.
In continuing the countdown list of the 2022 Los Angeles Rams top 15 individual performers, let’s take a quick look first at the current list.
For our fourth spot, I went away from offense and defense, and awarded the ranking to a steady rock on the special teams…
#4 – Matt Gay, K
The 2022 season was not kind to the Rams offense. Due to the struggles to score touchdowns, Matt Gay was relied upon often. Gay was 28/30 on field goals and 31/32 on extra points. Gay’s only two misses were from beyond 50+ yards. In fact, Gay was an impressive 7 of 9 from beyond 50. His most impressive field goal was in Week 15 at Lambeau Field against the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football. Unfortunately, he missed an extra point in the same game.
Matt Gay has made a strong argument that he is among the league’s best place kickers. In his 41 career games with Los Angeles, Gay is 74/80 on field goals. He has given the Rams security at the position after a disastrous situation in 2020 with Sam Sloman and Kai Forbath.
In addition, Gay had a touchback percentage of 79.2 with his kickoffs traveling an average of 62.9 yards (a full yard further than in 2021). His PFF grade for the season was 90.0. The only other kicker in that elite category: Justin Tucker.