Five Takeaways: Preseason At RaidersMyles Simmons
OAKLAND — The Rams’ first-team offense had an impressive showing against the Raiders, finishing the first half with a 17-14 lead. Los Angeles ended up winning the contest 24-21, but as we know there’s plenty more to preseason play than the final score. Here are five takeaways from the Rams’ second exhibition matchup.
1) Goff looks sharp After a solid start to the preseason last week against Dallas, quarterback Jared Goff looked downright sharp against the Raiders on Saturday, completing passes to seven different receivers. The second-year quarterback finished 16-of-20 passing for 160 yards with a touchdown, playing all but one drive of the first half.
Goff led the Rams down the field for a touchdown on the game’s opening drive, taking only eight plays to reach paydirt. Following a Los Angeles takeaway, Goff again orchestrated an eight-play drive to bring the Rams another TD.
It was Los Angeles’ second touchdown of the first quarter, and second of their first three drives. In all, Goff engineered three scoring drives — the third of which was a field goal. That came after the Rams had taken left tackle Andrew Whitworth, left guard Rodger Saffold, and center John Sullivan out of the game.
“We just came out here and executed how we’re coached to execute,” Sullivan said at halftime. “We spent a little bit more time game planning this week, not like a full week, but we knew what to expect. We know our assignments. We came out here and executed as an offense and that’s how you end up with two touchdown drives in your first three.”
2) Goff to Kupp connection is strong We’ve heard plenty about how rookie wide receiver Cooper Kupp could have a monster first season. It looked like that could be the case in the first half, as Goff hit the Eastern Washington product six times for 70 yards and a touchdown.
The longest completion was Kupp’s touchdown. Goff faked a handoff to running back Todd Gurley, the rolled out and found a wide open Kupp in the end zone for a 23-yard score.
Three of Kupp’s six receptions came on third down and resulted in first downs, which is a significant part of the reason why L.A. finished 6-of-8 in third-down efficiency in the first half.
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