Rams had shifted to an all-touchback kickoff strategy before firing special teams coach

The Rams fired special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn after they gave up a punt return touchdown that changed the momentum in Thursday's loss to the Seahawks. But punt coverage wasn't the only issue facing the Rams' special teams.

Another was kickoffs, where the Rams are the only team in the NFL that usually kicks the ball into the end zone for a touchback, allowing their opponents to start on the 35-yard line. In Thursday night's loss to the Seahawks, Ethan Evans kicked off eight times, and all eight were touchbacks to the 35-yard line.

Since Evans took over kickoff duties, the Rams have kicked touchbacks on 83.7 percent of their kickoffs, by far the most of any team in the NFL. The team with the second-highest touchback percentage in the league, the Jaguars, have kicked touchbacks on just 33.3 percent of their kickoffs. League-wide, just 18.9 percent of kickoffs have gone for touchbacks this season.

That hadn't been the case early in the season, when Josh Karty was the kicker and the Rams were employing a strategy of trying to kick the ball low and into the landing zone, sometimes bouncing the ball into the end zone where the receiving team would get the ball at the 20-yard line, and other times giving the opposing returners kicks that were difficult to run back.

But when Karty was cut for missing too many field goals and extra points, that strategy went out the window.

It's unclear to what extent head coach Sean McVay factored in kickoffs in his decision to fire Blackburn, but McVay had said early in the season that he was pleased with the way Karty was kicking off. The Rams moving away from that strategy when Evans took over kickoffs gave their opponents a big field position advantage. And when the opposing team is getting a big field position advantage, that can cost the special teams coordinator his job.