Will Rams regret not taking advantage of the preseason?

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff feels pretty good he’s got this NFL quarterback stuff down. Sean McVay will sure hope so.

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay pretty much took a pass on Saturday night. As he sat the bulk of his starters, one wonders if he balked at the “what if” someone gets injured.

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It’s a fair question given a high profile player like Julian Edelman being lost for the season. McVay was reminded that it’s a fine line between preparation and caution.

In a piece on ESPN, that question was raised. But if anything, the answers indicate that preparation via practice is likely good enough.

“The biggest thing is practice,” Ethan Westbrooks says. “You need that game experience, but you can get that in practice.”

Ethan Westbrooks has been in the league since 2014. For veterans, that’s a fair response.

Rams quarterback Jared Goff may be a different question. As McVay would even indicate, it’s a small sample size Goff takes with him into the opener against the Indianapolis Colts. His response can either be remarkable confidence, or incredible naïveté.

"“At the end of the day, we’ve done so much situational stuff in practice,” the second year quarterback would say after underwhelming in the Rams 21-19 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.“I know it’s not the same as a game, but we do so much situational stuff in practice and so much replicating game stuff that we are in that rhythm and that feel.”"

So,Los Angeles fans have that. Goff is all good on “stuff.”

Let’s not fool ourselves. As coaches become ever mindful of the possibility that a front line player can be lost for a season in a meaningless game, the opportunity to prepare in a preseason game, “meaningless.” So by that line of thinking, it’s difficult to fault McVay for erring on the side of caution.

But the Rams had a lot to get done, especially with an offense as bad as it was last year, and a quarterback who was just as bad. Goff had a small sample size coming out of the 2016 season (seven games), and one good half in the 2017 preseason.

Next: Sean McVay made a mistake Saturday night

Maybe that enough, maybe it’s not.

"“Yeah, I think so,” Goff would say. “I would’ve liked to have finished the day on a little bit of a better note, but I think in all three games as a whole I feel like I did a good job and feel like I got a lot out of it; got some good work and some good situational stuff. A lot to learn from, and a lot of stuff that we can get better from.”"

So, I guess Goff has all this NFL quarterback stuff figured out.

Los Angeles Rams fans will keep their fingers crossed.