Stetson Bennett IV led the Rams on touchdown drives on their first two possessions and threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter as they opened preseason play with a 31-21 victory over the Dallas Cowboys at SoFi Stadium Saturday.
Bennett completed 16 of 24 passes for 188 yards with one interception in his first game action since an Aug. 17, 2024, preseason game against the Chargers. He has not played in a regular-season game since being chosen by the Rams in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL draft after leading Georgia to back-to-back national championships.
“I thought Stetson did an excellent job being able to distribute the field and saw things well,” coach Sean McVay said. “He was awesome and he was totally present. I loved what I saw from him.”
Said Bennett: “I played pretty well. I was glad that I didn’t try to force it on two throwaways. Sometimes you have to throw the ball away and end the drive with a kick or punt.”
Bennett completed four of six passes for 71 yards on the opening possession, including a 39-yard pass to Xavier Smith on a fourth-and-6 play from Dallas’ 44-yard line.
“What a heck of a catch,” Bennett said. “[It was] for sure huge. Instead of having to give the ball up from midfield, going down there and scoring touchdown is a huge momentum builder.”
Smith was signed by the Rams as an undrafted free agent out of Florida A&M in 2023 and spent that season on the practice squad. He made his NFL debut Sept. 22 and gained 38 yards on his first punt return, setting up Joshua Karty’s tie-breaking 37-yard field goal with two seconds to play in a 27-24 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
“He’s just getting better and better,” McVay said of Smith, who caught two passes for six yards in 15 games last season. “He’s just continued to grow as a receiver.”
Blake Corum ran for a 2-yard touchdown three plays later to complete the 11-play, 79-yard drive.
The Rams selected Corum in the third round of the 2024 draft out of Michigan and rushed for 207 yards on 58 carries as a rookie.
Bennett completed four of six passes for 28 on the second drive. The 13-play, 64-yard drive ended with Corum’s 4-yard touchdown run.
Bennett threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to running back Cody Schrader with 13:10 left in the fourth quarter and a 5-yard touchdown pass to receiver Brennan Presley with 5:57 to play.
Smith played one game for the Rams in 2024, rushing once for three yards and catching one pass for six yards, after being waived by the San Francisco 49ers, who had signed him as an undrafted free agent from Missouri.
The Rams increased their 14-6 halftime lead to 17-6 on Karty’s 37-yard field goal with 4:13 left in the third quarter.
Brandon Aubrey kicked 35- and 25-yard field goals for the Cowboys in the second quarter.
Joe Milton threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Rivaldo Fairweather with 8:48 to play, then completed a pass to Josh Kelly for a 2-point conversion, cutting the deficit to 24-14.
Dallas quarterback Will Grier ran 8 yards for a touchdown with 2:31 remaining.
Milton completed 17 of 29 passes for 143 yards with one interception.
The Rams outgained the Cowboys 364 yards to 297, led 22-19 in first downs and 33:20-26:40 in time of possession in front of a crowd announced at 70,655.
The Rams converted five of 11 third downs, 45.5%, Dallas four of 11, 36.4%.
The Rams converted both of their fourth downs, the Cowboys one of two.
The Rams scored touchdowns four of the five times the reached the red zone, with Karty kicking a field goal the other time.
Dallas scored two touchdowns and Aubrey kicked two field goals the four times it reached the red zone.