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SANTA CLARA — As Joshua Karty waited for reporters in the locker room following the Rams’ 12-6 win over the San Francisco 49ers, he checked his phone. A professor of his from Stanford had emailed him, saying it looked like the 49ers had tipped one of his four field goals on the day, even though the ball had still stayed true through the uprights.
“I was like, ‘No, I don’t think so because the ball flight seemed good,’ and I didn’t think anything was wrong with it,” Karty said once media had gathered around him. “But sometimes you just need a little bit of luck; I think I was due for some luck. So, you know, I’ll take it when I get it.”
The rookie kicker had gone through a turbulent stretch leading up to Thursday’s return to the Bay Area. In the previous four games, he was 1 for 3 on field-goal attempts. In the one game in which he cleanly made his lone field goal, in Sunday’s victory against the Bills, he missed an extra point that could have given the Rams a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.
But against the 49ers, in a game in which the Rams could not get into the end zone, Karty was clean. He made all four of his attempts. Three came from inside 30 yards, but the 48-yarder was the one San Francisco tipped and still went in.
“He’s steady, he’s consistent, he’s kind of unflappable,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said. “And he went out there and I mean even the long one, 48-yarder, he knocked that thing true and it was firm and it had great trajectory on it. And then the next three were excellent. … He did a great job, I was really proud of him but I don’t know that I was too surprised.”
The conditions Thursday were wet and slippery, but Karty said that doesn’t disrupt his part of the kicking operation so much as it does the long snapper and holder.
Instead, he focused on doing his part, and not letting the preceding weeks affect his confidence as he lined up.
“It’s a good relief,” Karty said of the performance. “Stuff happens in football and it’s a long season and you’re not defined by a single game. I’m not defined by this game, I’m not defined by a game from a month ago. So just keep chugging along and finish the season strong and try to get that playoff spot.”
And he got to enjoy his return up near his college stomping grounds. His parents were in attendance, as was his girlfriend – still a student at Stanford – and some buddies who still live in Northern California.
Walking the Levi’s Stadium field, he’d hear 49er fans calling out, “Go Stanford,” as he thought of the irony of playing another rivalry game in the Bay.
“It makes me think of college, Stanford vs. Cal. I loved that game and I did well in that game over the years,” Karty said. “And I feel like the 49ers are our biggest rivals. Which is funny because there may or may not be video evidence of me saying that they were my favorite team like a year ago. But not anymore, so it’s great to beat them and it’s huge for the team and it means a lot.”
NOTES
Outside linebacker Nick Hampton tore his pectoral muscle against the 49ers and will require season-ending surgery, McVay said Monday.
The Rams expect tight end Tyler Higbee (knee) to return for his season debut next week against the New York Jets, McVay said.
Rookie offensive lineman K.T. Leveston (ankle) will not be activated from injured reserve to the active roster after practicing for the past three weeks, McVay said. Given all the flux the offensive line has undergone this year, McVay didn’t want to make a roster move to add Leveston, a seventh-round pick out of Kansas State in April’s NFL draft, to the active roster.
“He’s done a good job,” McVay said. “But he is a guy that we’re excited about his future. I thought he did a good job with the couple weeks of practice that he did have and looking forward to working with him for years to come.”
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