What to look for during the Los Angeles Rams second preseason game
August 17, 2017 by William Boyd
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The Rams started their 2017-2018 campaign with a preseason win over the Dallas Cowboys last weekend. Although it wasn’t the cleanest or best game in the world, there were still some positives to take away from that game. The Rams go into this weekend playing the Oakland (soon-to-be Las Vegas) Raiders, where the starters on both teams should play a bit more. This begs the question about what we should expect to see from the Rams this upcoming weekend.
1.) Less Fumbles, hopefully
That game last weekend was quite possibly one of the ugliest football games I have seen in a long time. The Rams could not hold onto the ball if the coaches glued the ball to their arms. It was so bad that the Rams even recovered one of their own fumbles in the endzone for a touchdown. You do not get to see that type of play very often (great job, Cooper Kupp).
But all joking aside, it looked like fumbling was a big problem for the Rams. Their back ups and some starting receivers had trouble holding onto the ball. Hopefully, during this week in practice, Sean McVay laid into the team and got them to do more ball safety drills. With more starters playing, you should see a much cleaner football game.
2.) More of Jared Goff’s true expectations for this season
Week one is never a good standard for trying to figure out what to expect from your team. Usually, week two is a good estimate for what you will be able to do as a whole unit. This will be the same with Jared Goff.
Goff was only 3-4 for 34 yards in two series of play for the Rams. In those two series, he did look much better than last year. He was able to get the ball in tight spots and had some good throws to Cooper Kupp and other top receivers. However, it was only four throws, so you cannot judge an entire season on four throws. Hopefully, it is a sign for things to come. But Goff should watch out considering Sean Mannion seems to be ready for the opportunity should Goff fail.
With this, Goff will finally have Sammy Watkins, the shiny new addition by the Rams from that trade last week. This will be our first exposure to the Goff-Watkins connection, and hopefully it will be a good experience. Watkins is a true number one receiver, and Goff did not have that last year in LA. They should mesh well together, but the on-the-field performance on Saturday will prove whether or not to get excited about the Rams offense this season.
3.) Impact of Aaron Donald on the Rams defense
A recent report by ESPN said that Aaron Donald is not afraid to drag this contract negotiation out until the regular season starts, which means the Rams have to brace for the worse. Donald is a critical part of that defense, and having him out for any length of time is bad for the Rams. He is the leader of that defense and it is a shame he is missing time due to this.
Judging on last weekend, the Rams defense did not look too bad. Granted, they were playing mostly second-string guys, but it held it’s own for the beginning part of the game. They held the Cowboys to three points in the first half, and this is even after trading away one of the top cornerbacks on the team (E.J. Gaines). One problem will definitely be covering the tight ends, as we saw with Rico Gathers in the second half. The Rams have always seemed to struggle with covering those tight ends, so it will be an issue to address during camp. But, mostly positives with the Rams and their defense without Aaron Donald. This weekend will be the true test. Hopefully, the Rams can get Aaron Donald back soon because if not, he may not be in good shape for the start of the season, hurting his team even more.
The second preseason game always brings a lot of intrigue, considering we are one game away from the unofficial “tune-up” game for the NFL season. The starters see more playing time, so these games are always somewhat entertaining. Keep an eye out for these key factors for the Rams as they look to improve upon what was an abysmal 2016-2017 campaign. As I always say, there is nowhere to go but up from last year!
