Rams Coach McVay said plenty about QB Stetson Bennett, and you may not like it

The LA Rams won a clunky, hard-fought preseason game. While the final score will mean very little to the team when the regular season starts, this is as close to a dress rehearsal as you can find at this point of the NFL season. As such, you take what you can get. And from what we have seen so far, there is a great deal to like about this team for the 2024 NFL season, and beyond.

The team touted depth, energy, and passion in OTAs and training camp, and that was exactly what showed up on the football field.

It was not a pretty win. But this was never about the win. It was about a collection of young football players collectively learning how to play and win football games. I think that was on display in the first preseason game. Players could have taken their mistakes to heart and mailed in the last quarter of the game after falling behind. That is never going to happen this season.

Not by this team.

Not for these coaches.

Some think that after a year's hiatus, one game marred by turnovers is proof enough to compel the Rams to release backup QB Stetson Bennett here and now. But if that was the case, should the same argument have been made to part ways with LA Rams legendary quarterback Bob Waterfield, who threw seven interceptions in one game on October 17, 1948, against the Green Bay Packers? Or perhaps QB Norm Van Brocklin should have been released after throwing six interceptions in one game against the Detroit Lions on October 13, 1957.

Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed then. And this game was only the first game of preseason. It was the first game back in the saddle for the young quarterback Stetson Bennett. So it seems far too premature to decide to end the guy's career on the LA Rams football team after doing what his head coach instructed him to do.

If you recall, Coach McVay did not pull in the reins of his young quarterback. Instead, he encouraged the guy to 'just cut it loose and enjoy it.' That advice was not given without thought. It was a keenly insightful direction to a young quarterback who feared the worst and hoped for the best. It was the guidance of a mentor to a prodege to trust his instincts. It was the instruction of a caring coach to a player who needed to be reminded to play for the fun of it.

And when the game seemed lost, the outcome sealed, time running out and the offense in a make or break scenario, Stetson Bennett scrambled to his left, flipped his hips and instinctively threw a dart to tight end Miller Forristall in the end zone for the game winning score.

It was an instinctive play. A play that happened so quickly that Stetson Bennett could not overthink it or second guess himself. Ultimately, it was a touchdown. And as it happened, the words from his head coach seemed prophetic.