Stetson Bennett’s Moment Has Arrived

Inglewood, CA (News4usonline) -The Los Angeles Rams owned the highlight reel in their 34-0 win against the New Orleans Saints. Playing in front of their fans for the first time this preseason, the Rams used one big play after another to subdue the under performing Saints at SoFi Stadium. 

The highlights include two running touchdowns by quarterback Stetson Bennet IV, a 100-yard interception return for a score by Alex Cook, and a couple more forced turnovers in the lopsided rout.

“I thought we did good things on offense. Obviously, going to have to go back and watch the film. There are some balls that I wish we would have connected on but overall, I thought it was good,” Bennett said.

Aside from Cook’s remarkable takeaway and ensuing touchdown, Al’zillion Hamilton spurred the Saints giveaway issue by coming up with a pick of his own. Several times, New Orleans managed to get inside the red zone of the Rams a couple of times, only to be denied by LA’s opportunistic defense. 

Cook’s pick-six took away one potential scoring opportunity for the Saints. Wesley Bailey’s forced fumble snatched away another chance for New Orleans to score some points. It was a good day for the Rams defense, said head coach Sean McVay. 

“The two turnovers in the tight red area to be able to prevent them from scoring was big,” McVay said. “Awesome for ‘AC’ [S Alex Cook] to be able to make that pick-six. Really cool for [OLB] ‘Wes’ [Wesley] Bailey to be able to force that fumble. I thought he made his presence felt throughout the day.” 

Bennett, with a very productive first half, was able to reap the fruits of his works in leading the Rams to a 20-0 halftime lead. In two quarters of playing time, Bennett completed 19 of 31 passes for 181 yards. 

Those numbers might have had a little bit more padding to them if Bennett been able to connect with wide receiver Tyler Scott on a potential long scoring pass down the middle of the field.  

“I wish we would have hit that big one to ‘T. Scott.’ That would have been sweet,” Bennett said. “Obviously, you’ve got to keep the ball in play, keep it moving. That’s what drives defenses crazy, but it is fun to hit the big ones.” 

With Bennett and later, Ty Simpson coming on in the second half, the Rams totaled 405 yards of offense against New Orleans. The Rams secured 28 first downs in the game. The Saints netted just 13. Bennett liked the productivity of the Rams offense. 

“I thought we did good things on offense,” Bennett remarked. “ Obviously, going to have to go back and watch the film. There are some balls that I wish we would have connected on but overall, I thought it was good.” 

McVay liked the totality in which his offense flowed against New Orleans. 

“I thought it was a really good team effort,” said McVay. “Awesome to see so many guys making plays. I thought Stetson [Bennett] did a really good job in the first half. I thought Ty [Simpson] did a nice job being efficient in the second half.” 

Protection was at the heart of Bennett and Simpson staying pretty clean throughout the game. The Rams offensive line gave both young quarterbacks a line of protection that was very difficult to penetrate. McVay was impressed with how the offensive line played.  

“I thought it was really good,” McVay said. “I thought the ball came out pretty quickly. I thought we moved the spot a little bit. Then I thought when we were running a lot of more downhill direct runs, I thought our runners ran really well. I thought [RB Jordan] Waters made his presence felt. Obviously, it was an awesome run by [RB] Jarquez Hunter to be able to get the last touchdown.”

Cover Art: Inglewood, CA – Los Angeles Rams quarterback Stetson Bennett (13) throws a pass in a preseason game against the New Orleans Saints at SoFi Stadium on Aug. 22, 2026. Photo credit: Mark Hammond/News4usonline