The Los Angeles Rams continued preseason play on Saturday night, taking on the Los Angeles Chargers as the road team at SoFi Stadium.
All of the Rams’ starters sat out once again, and so did their head coach as Sean McVay turned over his duties to assistant head coach Aubrey Pleasant to give him that experience.
While game results aren’t the most important thing in the preseason, it’s still great to see the Rams come away with a 13-9 win to improve to 2-0 in their exhibition slate.
It again was Stetson Bennett quarterbacking the Rams for the whole game as they look to get him up to speed to be Matthew Stafford’s backup when Jimmy Garoppolo is suspended the first two weeks of the regular season. And again, Bennett had an up-and-down performance before making plays down the stretch to earn the win.
After throwing four interceptions in the first game, Bennett threw another in this one and also lost a fumble. He wound up finishing 17-of-31 for 213 yards and a touchdown, which was the game-winner.
Bennett continued targeting rookie Jordan Whittington early and often as the wide receiver went into the halftime locker room with five catches for 52 yards. Whittington has been so impressive this preseason that the Rams opted to sit him the entire second half, signaling that he has earned a role with the team.
With Whittington out of the game, Bennett had to find other guys to complete the comeback victory. With the Rams trailing 9-6 in the fourth quarter, Bennett launched a 47-yard game-winning touchdown pass to J.J. Laap, an undrafted free agent out of Cortland State Of New York.
It was really the Rams’ defense that won this game though as they came up with two fumbles and an interception to hold the Chargers to nine points.
After signing with the team earlier in the week, defensive tackle Carlos Watkins showed that he may be in the mix moving forward with a strip sack.
Jaylen McCollogh and Jason Taylor II also had solid games in the defensive backfield, creating turnovers of their own.
And we are of course always monitoring the kicking game given the Rams’ struggles there last season. After waiving Tanner Brown earlier in the week, rookie Joshua Karty seemingly won the job for L.A. He started off strong by making 48 and 43-yard field goals. He missed his last attempt from 52 yards though so clearly is still a work in progress, much to the dismay of Rams fans.
What’s next for the Rams
The Rams will finish up the preseason on the road next Saturday against the Houston Texans. They will travel to Texas early for a joint practice with the Texans, which will be a good test for Sean McVay’s squad before the start of the regular season.
