Los Angeles Rams: 3 reasons resting starters against Oakland Raiders was right move

Here are three reasons why Sean McVay made the right move resting his starters for a second week in a row when the Los Angeles Rams took on the Oakland Raiders on Saturday.

For the second week in a row, Sean McVay decided it would be best to rest his starters for another preseason matchup, with this time coming against Jon Gruden and the Oakland Raiders, which coincidentally happens to be the Week 1 matchup as well in September. McVay took some heat last week when seeing how his decision to rest the starters resulted in a horrendous 33-7 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, but luckily the results were much different this time around for the Los Angeles Rams.

Instead of watching the backups struggle for the most part like they did against Baltimore, Los Angeles came through against Oakland with an impressive 19-15 win on Saturday, with plenty of players like John Kelly and KhaDarel Hodge stepping up with additional playing time. Preseason is the perfect time of year to watch players like these two push hard to make names for themselves, and when McVay can get away with allowing these guys to see more time on the football field while still pulling off the victory, it’s the ultimate win.

Only time will determine whether McVay’s decision to rest the starters for a second-straight week was the right one since it would be devastating to see Pro Bowl caliber players like Jared Goff and Todd Gurley rusty come Week 1. Until then, let’s take a look at three reasons to defend McVay’s decision to rest his starters in Week 2 of the preseason against the Raiders, and why it was the right move for the Rams.