You will never guess who got the Rams game ball after a gutsy Week 2 win

The LA Rams have a host of people who deserve the accolades and praise for winning another thrilling preseason game. I suppose when a team is firing well on many cylinders. that can be true of almost any NFL team. Still, this is a young team, and based on many preseason projections and reports, the team was projected by many NFL analysts to be at risk of regressing.

This team rose out of nowhere to win seven of their final eight games to end the season with a record of 10-7,and a sixth-seed berth in the 2024 NFL Playoffs. But this year? Many NFL pundits, analysts, and reporters are comfortable discussing the team's chances in this season to come in with eight or nine wins.

I think it will be a season that is far improved over 2023. That could mean 12 or more victories for this team. And so far, the depth of this team has been showing up in very competitive efforts in the team's first two preseason games. This has been a team whose swarming defense has quickly become the team's trademark. But at the same time, the offense has been showing up with huge game-winning touchdown drives for two consecutive games.

Are the two related?

I cannot help but think that the team's defense knows and understands that if they can keep the team close on the scoreboard, quarterback Stetson Bennett will find some way to win. So far, he has proven that to be the case twice in two games:

I know that some fans prefer perfection. No mistakes. No mental lapses. No errors in judgment. But that is not how it works in the NFL. Preseason is not only about showcasing talents to coaches, but in testing and discovering the limits of play. This is when players discover when to make their break for daylight, how tight of a window a quarterback can push his passes, and still make completions, which pass rush moves work, and how to set up to block most effectively.

NFL preseason is a scratch pad, the NFL's version of an etch-a-sketch. You may want a Rembrandt or a Picasso, but this is only an etch-a-sketch. In two more weeks, everything is shaken up, and the preseason simply won't matter any longer.