Rams Top Brass Continue Praise of Undervalued Contributors

Garoppolo has commanded the offense as Davante Adams has naturally grown into the team's biggest offensive threat. Over the past few days, both Aubrey Pleasant and Mike LaFleur have talked about Garoppolo's work, work that Sean McVay has positively commented on throughout training camp.

“In lieu of the conversation that we just had, phenomenal," stated Pleasant. "You have a Super Bowl-contending quarterback like Jimmy Garoppolo who we played against and now we have to deal with him in practice. I'm really impressed more than anything of our offensive staff catering an offense to what Jimmy can do very well while still understanding that this is Matthew's team as we continue to move forward.”

“That’s just it, having that second year of those offseason meetings starting in April and then going all the way until the end of OTAs and then coming back to hear it again," stated LaFleur. "It’s the fourth time from an introduction standpoint he's hearing these plays. The day to day being in the quarterback room, being in the unit room or skill room in terms of just hearing these plays over and over and conceptually what we're trying to get done. Jimmy, as long as he's comfortable with the terminology and all that, when that ball snaps, he's as comfortable as it comes. I think we've all seen that throughout his career. There's a reason he's had this success he has had. When he's feeling good about everything, usually good stuff happens because his physical ability is able to take over.”

LaFleur spoke about Bennett as well

LaFleur, who has been Bennett's most vocal supporter, continued to tease reporters on the strides he's taken, and was proven correct as Bennett had a strong performance against the Cowboys in joint practices and in the preseason game.

So I asked LaFleur what's next for Bennett?

“Just to continue," stated LaFleur. "I mean it was one game, right? We take each practice as it is, one practice and one game as it is. I’m happy for what he did. For the most part, the ball went where it was supposed to. I thought he played with great timing, great anticipation. That ‘lookie’ that he said no to and ended up getting to [Wide Receiver] Xavier Smith on the right side was awesome. It’s an incredible progression within the time of a play. It was cool to see that. I thought most importantly, he operated well. I thought our operation in and out of the huddle was excellent. It’s just them out there. We’re not standing behind there. We can't just call 14 timeouts and make sure we're all set for the next play. He’ll continue to do that, continue to build and play each play as its own.”