The Los Angeles Rams finished off their preseason with another victory, going undefeated after picking up a 20-18 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. And once again, the story of the game was the play of first-round rookie quarterback Ty Simpson.
Simpson played the first half, completing 18-of-23 passes for 119 yards and an impressive touchdown pass in the second quarter in which he rolled to his left and threw a dart to Brennan Pressley to put the Rams ahead 10-7. Afterwards, head coach Sean McVay had nothing but praise for the rookie, admitting to being pleased with what he has seen from him so far, via Zach Edwards of theRams.com:
“You’ve really seen a lot of really good things from him in each of these last three games,” McVay said postgame. “(He) didn’t have as (many) opportunities last week (as) tonight and obviously in Week 1. I’ve been really pleased with Ty. He did a great job. I thought he had good command. He’s got a great game day demeanor.”
McVay would continue on, noting how good Simpson was even when things broke down and he had to work on the move:
“I thought he was in good command,” McVay said. “He made good decisions. He went where the ball was supposed to go and then the cool thing is some of the second-reaction plays, when it doesn’t necessarily work out in rhythm, (he was) able to escape and buy time. Even in the bootleg game, he did a great job of attacking the edge, finding to just be able to keep the ball in play and managing the run game.”
It’s difficult not to be impressed with Simpson’s preseason performance. In three games, he completed 78.3% of his passes (47-of-60) for 382 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. He has done everything asked of him by the coaching staff and has thrived in his opportunities.
There were a lot of questions about the Rams taking Simpson with their first-round pick, but the franchise felt they had an opportunity to bring in their franchise quarterback of the future as Matthew Stafford is nearing the end of his career. It is obviously too early to know anything for sure, but so far it’s looking like the Rams made the right decision.
Sean McVay confirms Rams will carry three quarterbacks on initial 53-man roster
Even with his impressive preseason, Simpson could enter the season as the Rams’ third-string quarterback. McVay confirmed that the team will carry three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster with Simpson potentially behind starter Stafford and backup Stetson Bennett.
