Rams joint practice leaves fans with plenty of positives to appreciate

The Los Angeles Rams emerged from their joint practice with the Dallas Cowboys with plenty of unanswered questions remaining in the minds of fans. But many questions were answered as well. And that is what the joint scrimmages are designed to do. Not just to answer fans' questions, but to offer evidence to coaches tasked with paring down the roster.

Let's start at quarterback. While LA's top three QBs all had snaps - Matthew Stafford, Stetson Bennett, and Ty Simpson - the lion's share went to Stafford. The Rams ran a vanilla offense focused on timing short and intermediate passes to Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.

Stafford has nothing to prove, nor do Nacua and Adams. As a result, Stafford only aired out one throw to Nacua (who eventually left with an ice bag on his knee). The Rams then shifted to give Bennett work with the second string. Bennett was overly aggressive, falling into familiar bad habits of throwing interceptions into close coverage.

Finally, Simpson closed out the practice and demonstrated a solid command of the offense. Fans can look forward to his preseason start Saturday with a new shine.

Rams stars shone at multiple positions vs Cowboys

Of course, the upgraded defense remains a huge question mark: is it all that, and just how elite can it be? Tuesday offered plenty of evidence it will be as strong as hoped for.

The defense showed a strong pass rush, despite no Myles Garrett. One might expect the pass rush to struggle against a starting offensive line with Garrett sitting out the scrimmage. Instead, outside linebackers Josaiah Stewart and Byron Young were devastatingly effective. Young was incredibly dominant. He pressured Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott relentlessly.

The secondary is as good as advertised. The Horns had good reason to prohibit video coverage of the joint practice, as they threw multiple looks at the Cowboys' offense - best to keep those schemes under wraps until the season begins.

All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie line up both inside and outside, and the subsequent mismatches against Dallas receivers made for clear confusion. Alongside Velcro-like coverage from the DBs, the first-string defense limited the run as well.

Quentin Lake is awesome. Entering the first season on his extension, Lake continues to be a bargain. In coverage against Cowboys receiver George Pickens, he outhustled the intended target to record a beautifully timed red-zone interception. That's where he left off last season.

Lake's ability to keep up with elite receivers gives defensive coordinator Chris Shula plenty of options. Now that Shula can match Lake's energy with McDuffie, the secondary is a shape-shifting nightmare for opposing offenses, which sets up the pass rush quite nicely.

Nate Landman is the gift that keeps on giving. Landman continues to cement himself as a run-stuffing dynamo. Paired with nose tackle Poona Ford, Landman stuffs the run as well as any linebacker in the league. That was on display once again against the Cowboys.

The thing is, teammate Omar Speights plays a similar run-stuffing, phsyical style. Hopefully the Rams give second-year linebacker Shaun Dolac a chance to compete for a starting role. Dolac is a solid tackler, but has a better range and instincts in pass coverage than Speights.

The preseason will bring its own set of questions and answers. The regular season is nearing. In just a matter of weeks, roster cuts will whittle the team down to a 53-man crew.

As always, thanks for reading.

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