EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – The Rams conducted their first joint practice of the 2024 preseason on Sunday, hosted by the Chargers at their facility. Overall, the day was characterized by a Rams offensive performance that head coach Sean McVay indicated wasn't up to that unit's standards, plus extensive work on the new kickoff format.

Before diving into those items, some important context:

• For this first joint practice, I spent the majority of the time watching the Rams offense. Given the health situation with the Rams' offensive line – starters Alaric Jackson (ankle), Jonah Jackson (shoulder) and Rob Havenstein (ankle) are all currently week-to-week – I was primarily interested in seeing how that unit would perform against a Chargers pass rush led by edges Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack.
• The Chargers this past Thursday (Aug. 1) announced quarterback Justin Herbert was "diagnosed with an injury to the plantar fascia in his right foot"; thus, he did not participate in Sunday's joint practice. Backup Easton Stick instead led the Chargers' first-team offense against the Rams' first-team defense.

With that in mind, here are 10 things that stood out from the session:

1) Puka Nacua exits practice early with unspecified injury: McVay post-practice said he's "not sure" what happened to the second-year wide receiver and didn't have an update.

2) Braden Fiske also exits practice early and doesn't return, but only for precautionary reasons: According to McVay, this was because the team wanted to play it safe with the rookie defensive tackle after Fiske got "a blister the size of his foot."

3) Deflections and bat-downs: Both Rams quarterbacks passes that were deflected and batted down; Matthew Stafford had two interceptions that were caused by passes deflected by one Chargers defensive back and corralled by another.

On another play, Stafford completed a short pass to rookie running back Blake Corum, who fumbled the ball after making a move upfield and having the ball knocked loose by a Chargers defender.

"Our job is to be able to get this roster ready to go, and we're going to continue to focus on that," McVay said post-practice. "But make no mistake about it, some of the things I saw, particularly offensively, got way higher standards, all right, than what we looked like today, consistently down in and down out."

4) Good test for McClendon: Warren McClendon Jr. has been filling in for Havenstein at right tackle, and he faced a stable of venerable pass-rushers between Bosa, Mack, Bud Dupree and Tuli Tuipulotu.

Given he's watching all 22 players and usually focused on what the defense is doing, he said he'd be able to better evaluate McClendon after getting the chance to watch film. At first glance, though, McVay thought McClendon "did some good things when he was at the point of attack."

"But anytime you go against premier players like that, and then bud Dupree and Tuli are also rotating on their edges, they got four guys that are legit players," McVay said. "So I think that's excellent. You know, I think Warren is continuing to mature, but I'll go back and look at it. But there were some good things, and then there'll be some things that when I'm just isolating on him, when you have a chance to slow it down – my eyes are sometimes in some different place."

5) Extended look at the new kickoff format: A good chunk of time was understandably spent on the new hybrid kickoff format. The Rams kicked first in the first period of that work, then returned kicks in the second period of it. The Rams experimented with lots of different tandems at returner – up to two are allowed inside the 20.

McVay said post-practice that the preseason will not give teams an indication of what this kickoff looks like, given teams that may have some creative schematic things planned likely won't show it.

6) One hand: While the offense had its challenges, there were still some good moments. Tight end Colby Parkinson and wide receiver Demarcus Robinson each made an impressive one-handed catch near the sideline during team drills.

7) Stafford to Nacua and Allen: One play that drew some "ooohhs" from the crowd was a laser Stafford fired over the middle to Nacua, who quickly snared the ball out of the air to make the catch during team drills.

Stafford also had an impressive completion to tight end Davis Allen in redzone work, fitting the ball through a tight window to get it to him. Allen got crunched by Chargers defenders but still held on.

8) Kinchens continues to string strong practices together: Rookie defensive back Kam Kinchens had a takeaway in each of the Rams' final two training camp practices; on Sunday, he was in coverage denying a Stick deep ball down the sideline.

9) Intercepted by Curl: Defensive back Kamren Curl came up with an interception on a separate deep pass by Stick during team drills.

10) Redirecting: Corum did have a nice run during team drills where he initially went right, then cut back left for a big gain.

Stafford said overall he felt like the Rams' running backs did a great job of finding creases when they got their opportunities on Sunday.