The Los Angeles Rams faced the Dallas Cowboys in a joint practice on Tuesday, and Myles Garrett was held out for the second straight day due to a knee injury. Although Sean McVay estimated Garrett’s knee is at “85 percent”, it’s the sixth day of training camp that the pass rusher has missed in total due to the injury.
There is nothing reported worth alarming Rams fans about yet, but Garrett’s knee issue is now the type that could be called nagging, since he returned from it once, only to be sidelined
again later.
Puka Nacua was present for the joint practice, but left with trainers during the joint session with an undisclosed injury. The injury was later reported by Ian Rapoport as a groin injury and that the team is “just being cautious” as it pertains to his workload on Tuesday.
Both Garrett and Nacua could end up sitting out more practices in the days ahead, just one month away from L.A.’s season opener against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 1.
Rams vs Cowboys
LA Defense vs Dallas Offense
Nate Adkins of The Athletic praised the Rams’ new-look secondary against a potent passing offense featuring Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and George Pickens.
The Rams’ secondary mostly won the day, thanks to some help from the pass rush. And what stood out was the versatility in their approach.
Los Angeles lived in lots of dime personnel, something it led the league in last season, but it can get more creative and versatile with McDuffie’s ability to play inside and outside, in addition to the growing versatility of Curl and Quentin Lake. McDuffie often slid inside in these settings, offering a second nickel cornerback of sorts to Lake, which threw off the matchups the Cowboys were hunting for by motioning Pickens and Lamb into the slot, or a normal method to expose the lacking coverage of most teams they face.
This left Emmanuel Forbes in a difficult position, something he will have to deal with in the regular season, although Adkins feels it’s something that the Rams can adjust to this year given their new personnel.
He did slip out of his breaks on a couple of quick slant passes, where Pickens and Lamb are among the hardest covers in the league. But the Rams can feel more comfortable with that approach given how they crowd McDuffie, Lake and Curl into these areas and can trust their instincts to help off their coverage assignment to make the tackle, and that happened several times.
Quentin Lake had the biggest highlight, a red zone interception off of Prescott.
“We always talk about calculated risk: If you see it, go get it,” Lake said. “(Kinchens) is the one who taught me that: ‘Q, just go out there. Sometimes you’re going to have to nut up and believe in it and go get it.’ I did that a couple times, but he’s the one who taught me that, which is a very, very valuable piece of my game that I’m going to take with me for a long time.”
Closer to the line of scrimmage, Byron Young and Josaiah Stewart stood out.
“Byron Young had a field day against Cowboys right tackle Terence Steele. He won with speed around the edge, one time so freely that he actually overran a sack that Prescott turned into a short scramble by dipping around his speeding body.
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Josaiah Stewart also had a busy day. Often on the left side in place of Garrett, Stewart kept finding his way around the edge to bring run plays down in the backfield, and he scored a sack on another play with a deep speed rush.“
Nate Landman and Omar Speights were praised for “physical run stops”.
As for the defensive line, there is no Aaron Donald as of Tuesday. But Desjuan Johnson, who practice with Donald this week, said he looks faster than before.
“It didn’t feel like he missed a beat at all,” Johnson said. “It feels like he even got a little bit faster, a little bit hungrier in a way.”
LA Offense vs Dallas Defense
This is one area where the Rams actually may have struggled. Cowboys writer Patrik Walker noted how linebacker Justin Barron intercepted three passes—one off of Matthew Stafford—and that new defensive coordinator Christian Parker could be a wunderkind.
“Christian Parker is in his first year as a defensive coordinator, but it didn’t look like it. The roster is completely revamped for 2026, and it did indeed feel like it. From linebacker Justin Barron’s three interceptions — one against Stafford, two against Stetson Bennett — to the tally of would-be sacks (>5) to the stout coverage that erased several downfield throws, the defense sent a message on Tuesday.”
Head coach Brian Schottenheimer said Dallas has a “different defense” this year and was proud of some guys who were able to jump Stafford and get past the offensive line on Tuesday.
“”… Matthew Stafford has an unbelievable ability to get the ball out of his hands fast, and he’s hard to get home on, but a few guys jumped out today.”
More than a few, objectively speaking, with sacks coming from Shemar James, Donovan Ezeiruaku, Isaiah Land, newly-extended All-Pro Quinnen Williams and more; and PBUs from Shavon Revel, Julius Wood and others.“
Walker said that Stetson Bennett and Stafford were “flustered” for most of the day and that Dallas feels its future is bright with Parker.
“Stafford, Bennett and the Rams used a good bit of pre-snap motion against the Cowboys, only to discover it didn’t much matter, and that they would need to decipher Parker’s pre-snap deceptions — something they swam upstream against, as Barron’s three interceptions can attest to.
Parker called joint practice like a longtime veteran coordinator, something that bodes infinitely well for the Cowboys’ defense going forward in 2026 and beyond.“
This is only a joint practice, so the results don’t matter at all and the plays could be meaningless as far as predicting the regular season. But certainly some things Sean McVay and Chris Shula will want to clean up, and some players they’ll want to get back.
