Rams vs Cowboys preseason Week 1: 12 storylines fans must monitor

The LA Rams have three preseason games and three more joint practices on the schedule. But if you were hoping to see the Rams regroup from a disappointing first joint practice held with the Los Angeles Chargers, I don't believe that you will have that opportunity. After all, the joint practices are events for the team's starters and coaches to aid in assessing the team's readiness for the 2024 NFL season.

For the LA Rams, preseason games are exclusively intended for players on the roster bubble trying to improve their depth chart position, or outright fighting for a roster spot. And that is what the team intends for the 2024 NFL preseason as well.

The LA Rams travel to compete against the Dallas Cowboys in a second of four joint practices. On this occasion, however, the Rams will be able to follow up the scrimmage of starters and key rotational players with the first preseason game of the 2024 NFL season. That will ensure that the team gets a good handle on the entire roster.

This is just another checkpoint for the team, a pitstop as you will, for the coaches, fans, analysts, and media to speculate as to how far the team has come so far, and where the team will need to intensify the focus and training sessions going forward.

So far, the team's injuries continue to track as preseason injuries, and are not formally expected to impact the team's ability to compete in Week 1 of the 2024 NFL regular season in one month's time. But time travels quickly. And with so many injuries impacting the offensive line, there will be a significant negative impact even if all starters heal in time to compete against the Detroit Lions, but simply haven't enough time to get realigned with the starting offense.

So while joint scrimmages and preseason games are not vital to the team's success this season, the aggregate effect of having so many starters out for a prolonged period will take its toll.

But with the Cowboys front and center in terms of the team's current focus, what are the key storylines that fans must monitor in joint scrimmage and the team's first preseason game: