4 love-it takeaways from LA Rams first preseason game

IV:  Rams played fundamentally sound football

Some of the areas that are historically poor showings for teams in the preseason are mental mistakes, poor execution, and poor discipline. But even beyond that, the first preseason game is the first occasion for coaches to make basic play calling and adjustments.

In short, it’s the first occasion for everyone, players and coaches, to get their first taste of an NFL game. The game against the LA Chargers was the first opportunity for the team to face a non-scripted, football contact type of game. This was the first of 24 strategic and tactical tests for the players and coaches.

First and foremost, I loved the play-calling of the LA Rams’ new offensive coordinator Liam Coen. While the extent of what he could call during the game was limited, I was impressed with his willingness to keep the chains moving by ensuring the team stuck with the ground game. Ineffective? That depends on how you measure success.

Rams putting up points

The Rams’ offense made the plays that it needed to make, scoring four touchdowns and punting just three times is a pretty good ratio. In fact, the team may have made some boo-boos along the way, but the overall takeaway that is simply tough to shake is the fact that the Rams showed up, put up points on the scoreboard, and appeared to be strong enough depth-wise to continue to succeed this year.

But perhaps the most impressive statistic on the evening is that the Rams committed just two penalties for ten yards. The Chargers committed nine penalties for 120 penalty yards. That is a sign of a well-coached team. Clearly, the Rams young players learned quite a bit in OTAs and in training camp this season.