Rams Must Ask Serious Questions of the Quarterback Room

The team held joint practice with the Saints on Thursday and after their performance, Sean McVay answered questions from reporters. Based on what he said and what I saw from practice, the presumed quarterbacks on the Rams' gameday roster have to answer these questions.

Matthew Stafford

Stafford has yet to resume any football activity that is subject to being viewed by the media, due to his back issue, an issue that flared up again after a throwing session last Saturday, where he threw 60+ passes. McVay stated Stafford would be doing the same workout this Saturday.

Two questions. What will be different this time around because after last Saturday, Stafford missed the entire week of practice and will he be able to manage playing a 17-game season?

If not, what contingency plans to the Rams have besides going to Jimmy Garoppolo?

Jimmy Garoppolo

Garoppolo was not at his best on Thursday. To be honest, the offense wasn't as a whole. McVay spoke about Garoppolo's performance.

“I thought he was up and down," stated McVay. "I think their rush did a good job, especially in some of those early periods and it didn't seem like we were able to find a rhythm. But what I did love is once we got into some of the second down to third downs, I thought he was seeing coverage well, distributing the ball. I love the way that he finished in the two-minute drill where he hits a big completion to [Wide Receiver] Davante [Adams] right off the jump and then we're really one more completion away from being in the position that we want."

"He managed that really well, but I thought he did a great job. One of my favorite things about Jimmy is if something doesn't go down the way we want or if we have a little bit of a miscommunication, he's great about being able to reset and be able to respond and not react to whatever that next snap is. I thought he did that today.”

While the Rams did use a simplified playbook due to security concerns regarding the scheme, even if McVay rolls out a brand new offense, if Garoppolo has to play multiple weeks, what are the Rams going to do once defenses figure out ways to make Garoppolo ineffective? How do you modify an already modified playbook that will be easy enough to learn?

Stetson Bennett

Bennett has his own issues but I'm not too worried about that.

“He's done a great job," stated McVay. "I thought he played really well last week. I thought he was in total command. I thought he made a bunch of great plays today as well. Stetson's doing an excellent job.”

My question is this. If there's doubt that Stafford will be able to play week one, doubt that exists, Garoppolo needs to be ready to go, thus making Bennett the backup. So if that's the case, should the Rams limit his preseason usage so they have a backup who has been taking team reps because Dresser Winn's usage has been minimal at best throughout training camp and preseason?

These are tough questions to answer, but if Stafford's workout goes sideways, they will have to answer them.