Rams Preseason: All four games will mean a lot in 2017

Los Angeles Rams fans will experience meaningful preseason games in 2017 as LA looks to reboot after a lost year.

The Los Angeles Rams have dates and times for their upcoming preseason slate of games. Given the wholesale changes in LA this offseason, it’s hard to imagine four games that are both inconsequential and critically important at the same time. Worth noting, is the quality of opponents: Cowboys, Raiders, Chargers, and the Packers. All will serve as a measuring stick for where the Rams are and where they are headed.

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But one that will have some interest on multiple levels is week 3 against the Chargers.

Outside of the easy to follow storyline of unlikely, now curious neighbors, is the fact that the third preseason game is the unofficial dress rehearsal for NFL teams. The fact that both are now in Los Angeles is an added backdrop that makes the matchup even more interesting.

But while the Rams / Chargers has some predictable interests, for LA, it feels as if each and every game of the preseason settles a needed discussion. Little is preordained for the Rams, and anyone who thinks that these four games are only a matter of function haven’t been paying attention.

A new head coach and staff, a winless second year quarterback, and what will be a brand new offense will be tinkered with and analyzed like few other teams will be in August.

The Rams will need it.

As far as inconsequential games go, and the preseason is a lot of just that, a good argument can and will be made how all four are important for a team doing another reboot. The added interest in game three where both teams are due to be stadium buddies will just add to the eyeballs on the screen and the butts in the seats.

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However for one of the LA teams, the need to be “extra” good in that game will be greater for one and a little less for the other.

Hopefully, when the Rams and Chargers mix it up in the years to come, it’ll be the other Los Angeles team needing to hit the reset, and not the one who has made it an annual event.