Tavon Austin recovered this muffed punt in Sunday's first quarter, but later in the game he lost one to the Seahawks. Robert Hanashiro/USA TODAY Sports
Rams will give Tavon Austin 'a break' from punt returns
7:00 AM ET
Alden GonzalezESPN Staff Writer
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- First-year head coach Sean McVay said Sunday the
Los Angeles Rams are going to give
Tavon Austin "a break" from returning punts. He can use one.
"I'm a little scarred up right now," Austin said after Sunday's
16-10 loss to the
Seattle Seahawks. "Never going to make excuses. Just gotta keep working at it day in and day out, hoping I get it back when I'm feeling more comfortable catching the ball back there."
Austin has already muffed four punts this season, and three were recovered by the opposing team. He did it in the opener against the
Indianapolis Colts, on Thursday Night Football against the
San Francisco 49ers in Week 3 and, most recently, in a tough defeat against a heated division rival on Sunday.
Austin muffed two punts against the Seahawks at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. He dropped the first punt of the game but recovered at the Rams' 38-yard line. McVay replaced Austin with Kupp for the second punt, then went back to Austin for the third, which came shortly after Austin's 27-yard touchdown run. Austin dropped that one, too, allowing the Seahawks to recover at the Rams' 30-yard line. Kupp was back there for the Seahawks' last three punts, none of which were returned.
Austin said Sunday that the muffed punts are "a mental thing," but McVay also brought up Austin's left wrist, which was surgically repaired in the spring. "What you appreciate about Tavon is he's not going to make any excuses," McVay said. "He's got to field the punts better than that, more consistently in terms of being able to track it, and he's going to continue to work on that in practice and try to improve moving forward."
McVay added that Austin will "continue to remain a big part of our offense." Austin is basically the fourth receiver on the Rams depth chart, despite taking up close to $15 million toward their salary cap. But the Rams have found use for him out of the backfield, where he has 20 carries for 108 yards. McVay was initially hoping Austin could establish himself as a vertical threat in his offense, but the
Sammy Watkins acquisition eliminated that need.
Now he won't be contributing in one of his strongest areas.
"I'm true to myself, and I understand what's going on," Austin said. "I know what's up with me. I did this for four or five years; I probably had two muffs. So it's just a mental thing for me. I just have to keep getting better and better, and I'll be all right."
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