I’m so excited for football: Open thread

The anticipation is building

Today is August 1, 2021, which puts us a little under two weeks away from the LA Rams’ opening preseason game against the LA Chargers. We are just 13 days shy of the Rams actually playing real football against a real team — and only six days shy of the Rams facing off against the Dallas Cowboys in a joint practice next weekend.

I love professional football. I love it and it’s about to happen again.

Here are some things I’m excited for in the coming weeks:

• I’m excited to see who the 1s on offense and defense will be when the Rams face the Cowboys in practice on Saturday.
• I’m excited to find out how LA’s defense does against what appears to be one of the five most-talented offenses in the NFL. The “iron sharpens iron” mantra applies internally, but similarly few offenses bring more iron than the one with Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, Tyron Smith, Zack Martin, Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and CeeDee Lamb.
• I’m excited to get more opportunities to see Matthew Stafford swing with his own set of irons: Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, DeSean Jackson, Van Jefferson, Tutu Atwell, and Tyler Higbee.
• I’m excited to find out how the running backs behind Darrell Henderson perform, especially Jake Funk and Xavier Jones. I’ll accept any name as one to watch for though, so don’t shy away from the challenge if you’re Otis Anderson or Raymond Calais.
• I’m excited to see the Rams face the Chargers at SoFi Stadium on August 14th.
• I’m excited to find out how Justin Herbert — my favorite under-25 QB in the NFL since the day I started doing research on him — does against the reigning number one defense, even if it’s only for a series or two.
• I’m excited to find out how Stafford performs against Brandon Staley’s re-charged Chargers defense, even if that is also only for a series or two.
• I’m excited to learn how the offensive line shakes out and if there will be any shifts from the expected interior of Austin Corbett at center and Bobby Evans at right guard. Will Brian Allen really sneak in there?
• I’m excited to see more of Terrell Lewis, Robert Rochell, Brycen Hopkins, Van Jefferson, A’Shawn Robinson, Sebastian Joseph-Day, Terrell Burgess, David Long, Jake Funk, Max Pircher, and Jacob Harris.
• I’m excited to see more of Matthew Stafford.
• I’m excited to find out how Raheem Morris will differ from Staley.
• I’m excited to find out how Sean McVay’s offense will be different without Jared Goff, Shane Waldron, Andy Dickerson, and Aaron Kromer.
• I’m excited to see the games that don’t count.
• I’m excited to get closer to the games that do.

What are you excited for?