The preseason finale didn’t go well for the Los Angeles Rams as they were dominated 41-0 in their loss to the Denver Broncos. With this loss, the Rams finished the preseason winless.

Here are my three takeaways from this game:

Stetson Bennett finishes preseason with a disappointing start

Stetson Bennett, the Rams fourth round pick in this year’s draft turned in his worse performance of the preseason. Over the first two games, Bennett was neither great nor completely bad. In those games, he threw for over 300 yards with one touchdown pass and a rushing score. But in this matchup with the Broncos, Bennett was a dismal four for nine passing for 12 yards while throwing two awful interceptions.

Bennett was expected to play the entire first half but struggled so mightily that he was replaced  in the second quarter by veteran Brett Rypien. 

Bennett, who was the star quarterback for the back-to-back champion Georgia ruined any chance he had of starting the season as Matthew Stafford’s backup with Saturday’s performance.

Will the Rams poor preseason carry over to the regular season?

It may be a long season for the Rams this year. Not only did the team go winless this preseason. They were defeated by double digit points in each game. I know, we didn’t see much of their starters throughout the preseason but you would hope to be more competitive in these three exhibition games. With the three losses to the Los Angeles Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders and tonight’s beatdown against the Broncos the coaches will have to dig deep for positives that comes from the game tape.

Los Angeles finished this game with only 11 first downs while allowing 33 for Denver. The offense was 1-10 on third down conversions and only accounted for 159 yards on its 9 offensive drives. The defensive play was just as bad as they allowed the Broncos to complete all three of its fourth down conversions and gave up nearly 500 total yards. Kicker Tanner Brown added to the team’s poor play by missing his only field goal attempt of the game.

The Rams are now hopeful that with their veterans leading the way the team can fix some of the issues that were shown by its young players all preseason long.

There were some positives to come out of this game for the Rams

There hasn’t been too much to be positive about if you are a Rams’ fan. One of those positives for sure is that the team came out of this exhibition period fairly healthy. The team expects to have superstar Cooper Kupp there to start the season. By sitting Guys like Kobie Turner, Byron Young, Russ Yeast, Jake Hummel, Tremayne Anchrum, Steve Avila, Puka Nacua, and Demarcus Robinson tonight the team was able to avoid injuries to any of the guys they expect to contribute to them winning. In essentially a rebuild year with so many young players on the roster. The team needs all of its veterans ready to go for the beginning of the season.

Two players continued to have success throughout this preseason and finished with solid play tonight. First, there is running back Ronnie Rivers who rushed six times for 32 yards. Is there a scenario in which Rivers becomes a starter this season? Probably not but it’s always good to have multiple backs who can be productive during the long 18-game season. Secondly, wide receiver WR Austin Trammell, who finished with easily the team-best: 55 yards on five catches. He was the clear go to guy for the backups tonight and maybe a solid option down the line if any injuries occur to any of the top guys in the WR room.

The coaches for the Rams will now have to cut the roster down to its best 53 players as the team prepares to visit their divisional foe, the Seattle Seahawks, for the season opener September 10th at 1:25 PM PST.