5 key points fans can learn from the Rams performance in preseason Game 2

Another preseason game fills the headlines for LA Rams fans. It may not be 'real' football just yet, but if it waddles like a duck and quacks like a duck? Yeah, you get the picture. The preseason may not be meaningful to the team's trajectory overall, but it will certainly matter to the coaches and players who participate. Every NFL team will share the same 0-0 record when the regular season starts in three weeks.

But not every player will suit up for that game.

37 players on each team will be dismissed. Some will need more time to be deemed NFL material. Others have seen too many seasons in the NFL, and will find the game has passed into their rear view mirror. Still others will be reclaimed, whether by their original team on the practice squad, or by a new team that has shortage of talent or depth at that player's position.

It's a mad scramble, not unlike Detroit Metro Airport years ago, when the former Northwest Airlines seemed to land every plane in their inventory there, unload all passengers, and then every plane takes off 90 minutes later laden with a new plane-load of passengers who had to race between gates to make their connections. Trust me, if you never had that experience, you are missing nothing.

For now, 180 players from two NFL teams clash at SoFi Stadium, Both teams call SoFi 'home,' but for this game, the Rams will be considered the 'visiting' team. Okay, PoTAYto, PoTAHto. It's preseason. But it is football, and we are eager to see the Rams play once again.

Still, there are reasonable expectations, and unreasonable expectations, for this one. After all, we know going in that the Rams will not play starters. We also know that the team will hold out backups who are projected to have significant rotational roles. For the wide receiver room, for example, that has meant no preseason snaps for WR Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua (nursing an injury), Demarcus Robinson, and Tutu Atwell. Now, rookie WR Jordan Whittington may sit in preseason.

That is a lot of players getting bubble-wrapped for the upcoming season.

The point is, how much can fans truly 'know' about the team from preseason games with the team benching all starters, and even so many backups that the team is commiting to fielding practice squad players? Well, not all hope is lost. We have overturned five trends that we believe are important to keep on your radar for Game 2 of the preseason. And they are: