Rams game plan for Week 4 preseason against the Saints is simple

Don’t look for much by way of a complicated game plan when the Los Angeles Rams play the New Orleans Saints to wrap-up the 2018 exhibition season.

When the Los Angeles Rams play the New Orleans Saints in their exhibition finale on Thursday, the game plan may be the simplest we’ve seen of all four preseason games. It’ll be about staying healthy, even down the depth chart, getting rookie running back John Kelly some added reps out of the backfield, and maybe finding a backup quarterback.

Well that, and maybe having some better answers or maybe even some news about Aaron Donald.

Ahhh, sounds so simple.

This exhibition has been one of the most uneventful in recent seasons. Even last year, the sense of newness and optimism was palpable during the Rams 2017 exhibition season. In 2018, it’s been an exercise in caution, especially for Sean McVay’s offense.

So, with 60 minutes of mind numbingly irrelevant football against the Saints remaining, predictions will be mostly about who wins the backup to Jared Goff sweepstakes, and a clean bill of health heading to Oakland for a Week 1 matchup against the Raiders.

Couldn’t be more simple than that.

The one thing I do believe McVay wants to see happen is a game that gives him an opportunity to say that Sean Mannion is the guy second on the QB depth chart.

I just think McVay is that guy, and that’s where his head is at. He’s had Mannion for two seasons now, and you have to believe he thinks he’s the best to be Goff’s understudy. Meaning unless he sees something extraordinary from Brandon Allen, he’ll be content to ride it out with Mannion.

Beyond that, the preseason finale in New Orleans is about dotting the “i’s” and crossing the “t’s.”

Heading into 2018, most NFL watchers still see big things for the Rams. While the NFC probably boasts the most teams who could win a Super Bowl this year, Los Angeles remains near the top of that mix. If good health remains on their side, and Donald is back in the fold, predictions of big things will accompany them throughout the year, making both Mannion and Allen a distant afterthought.