INGLEWOOD, Calif. — For 57 minutes Sunday afternoon, Stetson Bennett looked like a quarterback who hadn’t been on the field in nearly a year.
But in the final three minutes, Bennett led the Los Angeles Rams on a game-winning drive and may have revived memories of when he led the University of Georgia to its second consecutive national title.
Bennett recovered from four interceptions to throw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Miller Forristall with four seconds left, and the Rams beat the Dallas Cowboys 13-12 in the preseason opener for both teams.
“It was probably the weirdest game I’ve ever been a part of,” said Bennett, who finished 24 of 38 for 224 yards, “but I told myself I was going to take the hits today. My goal was just to not make any mental mistakes. Basically, just get our offense right.”
“Obviously, we made some mistakes, but at the end of the day, we were in a situation where if we didn’t put the ball in the end zone we were going to lose and I think everybody fought for that.”
Bennett was drafted by the Rams in the fourth round last year but sat out the regular season due to mental health issues.
Bennett completed 8 of 9 passes for 61 yards on the game-deciding 13-play, 70-yard drive, including a side-arm pass to Forristall on fourth down from the Dallas 6-yard line. Forristall caught all three passes on the final drive for 31 yards.
Los Angeles’ day appeared to be over when Bennett appeared to throw his fifth interception on the final play before the two-minute warning, but it was negated by Dallas for a holding penalty.
“Obviously, we wanted to minimize the turnovers, but I wasn’t really surprised,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “We were talking in the headset as coaches, and I mean, he’s the type of guy that’s going to get us on a touchdown drive that’s probably going to win the game, and Stetson did a great job.”
McVay gave special praise to wide receiver Jordan Whittington, who had six receptions for 74 yards, and rookie Joshua Carty kicked two field goals for the Rams.
Trey Lance passed for 188 yards in his first game with the Cowboys, and the Cowboys got four field goals from Brandon Aubrey.
Lance was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 draft by the San Francisco 49ers and played in eight games, including four starts, over his first two seasons. He was traded to the Cowboys last season on Aug. 26 in exchange for a fourth-round pick, but did not play in every game.
“I think I learned a lot from the game. I played with a lot of different guys. The energy in the huddle was good,” said Lance, who entered on the second series and completed 25 of 41 passes. “We just left some plays across the board from the first quarter to the fourth quarter. It’s always a bad feeling when you have the ball four extra times and can’t score a touchdown.”
Aubrey’s basket with 6 minutes and 8 seconds left in the game gave the Cowboys a 9-6 lead. On the next possession, Brock Mogensen intercepted a Bennett pass and returned it to the Rams’ 23-yard line, where Aubrey kicked 52 yards with 2 minutes and 52 seconds left to extend the lead to six points, 12-6.
The Rams got the opening kickoff and went 61 yards in 12 plays before Carty cracked the goalpost from 28 yards out. Whittington provided the key play of the drive with a 34-yard reception.
On second down and 11 from the Rams’ 41, Whittington caught the ball at the 35, shook off a tackle by Dallas cornerback Eric Scott and advanced to the 11-yard line before being tackled by Damone Clark.
Cooper Rush led the Cowboys to a field goal on their only drive: a 43-yard pass down the left sideline to Jalen Brooks put Dallas in the red zone at the Rams’ 15-yard line.
The drive stalled at the LA 12 before Aubrey made his first field goal of the game from 30 yards out to tie the score at 3-3.
The teams again traded field goals in the second quarter.
Carty kicked from 39 yards out with 9:13 left in the half, capping a 14-play, 76-yard Rams run. Dallas responded with a 12-play, 52-yard run, culminating in Aubrey’s 36-yard field goal with 4:51 left in the first half.
“In some ways it felt like the first game, but in other ways I was very happy with the way we scored and took care of the ball. We’ve got a lot of work to do going forward,” Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said.
