Rams preseason Week 2 preview: What to watch for

The Rams will head to Oakland for a showdown with the Raiders on Saturday, August 19th. The game will take place at 7:00 PM PDT. The matchup is sure to be a good one and coach Sean McVay assured fans that starters would receive more playing time this game. Here are some storylines to watch for:

Wide receiver Sammy Watkins makes his Rams debut

The Rams recently made news around the league by acquiring former top-five draft pick Sammy Watkins from the Buffalo Bills. Watkins arrived in Los Angeles the night of the Rams first preseason game against the Cowboys and obviously was unable to play given his lack of knowledge about the system.

Throughout the week, Coach Sean McVay has told the media that Watkins will get “a handful” of plays on Saturday. Given Watkins’ limited knowledge of the playbook and short amount of time to learn it, it is very encouraging that he is already able to take the field at all. Fans should be very excited about this opportunity to see what he can do when working in a game situation with his new partner in crime, quarterback Jared Goff. Hopefully, a situation presents itself where Watkins can make a big play and give Rams fans a taste of the things to come for the duo in the future.

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First-team players get an increased body of work

The Rams were very conservative in the first preseason game when it came to playing time for their starters. This approach was questioned around the league given the youth and inexperience on the Rams roster. Goff can clearly benefit from as many reps as possible, yet only attempted four passes in his first outing of the season. Goff, however, had a successful outing in those four passes, completing three. With one Rams drive ending up in the end zone. Coach McVay seemed to have a very explicit plan and he stuck to it.

He now seeks to continue to the next phase of his plan and the Rams will most likely allow their starters to play for about the duration of the first quarter. This should allow Goff and company to put together a few sustained drives and still not have too much risk for injury. If a quarter truly is the measure for playing time, then fans should hope that Alec Ogletree and the defense give a similar performance to last game, forcing quick punts and taking little time off the clock in order to see plenty of offensive play.

Rams to continue looking to see what they have in Mannion?

As fans and even Rams alumni such as Eric Dickerson have questioned the abilities of Jared Goff and called for Sean Mannion it has become clear that it is just a two man battle in Los Angeles. If there is a battle at all.

Goff is the starter and that seems to be all there is to it. However, last game Mannion was given a large body of work, throwing 25 passes and putting together a pretty solid performance. It raises questions as to if the Rams are trying to push Mannion far in the preseason in case Goff struggles once the games start to count.

McVay has no loyalty to Goff. He did not draft him or trade for him, therefore he is not responsible for Goff’s success. McVay is simply responsible for putting the person under center who will allow the Rams to be most successful. Last game seemed to be a fairly rigorous test for Mannion, third-string quarterback Dan Orlovsky did not come into the game until very late. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues.

Can Rams sure up fumbling woes?

Most likely the biggest issue for the Rams in the first week of the preseason was their inability to secure the ball against big hits and sometimes, in the case of running back Justin Davis, against themselves. The Rams fumbled five times in the game, all in the first half. One of these

One of these fumbles, fortunately, resulted in the Rams only touchdown thanks to the quick reactions of rookie wide receiver Cooper Kupp. Another fumble occurred on a wild snap that was airmailed over the head of Mannion by backup center Austin Blythe, resulting in a massive loss on the play. Running back Malcolm Brown also fumbled. He is currently penciled in as the backup for starter Todd Gurley and will need to be more secure with the ball if he wants to hold onto that spot through the duration of camp.

Now onto running back Justin Davis. The undrafted rookie out of the University of Southern California was one of the bright spots of the game for the Rams, making precision cuts where he did not seem to have any room at all. Unfortunately, Davis too fumbled, not once, but twice. He flashed incredible potential throughout the game as a player who could contribute for the team, someone who could make special things happen once the ball was put in his hands. However, turnovers are devastating in the NFL and Davis must break this habit before it forms if he wants to last and earn a spot on the 53-man roster.

Rams face a tough opponent in Oakland

The Rams have had a successful offseason in terms of gathering pieces in order to fill holes in areas of needs. However, after such a weak season last year, the Rams are a big question mark in terms of how those acquisitions will come together on the field against an opposing team. This Saturday offers the Rams their most extended opportunity to prove themselves thus far. Their opponent, the Oakland Raiders, had a very strong season last year and will prove to be a very big test for a Rams team that is still yet to prove exactly what they are going to be this year.

Rams fans should look forward to this matchup against a very worthy opponent. It will be the first large sample size that goes toward identifying what Rams fans have to look forward to this season.

– Andrew Kelly is a Staff Writer for cover32/Rams and covers the Los Angeles Rams. Like and follow on Follow @Andrew_K47 Follow @cover32_LAR

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