4. SoFi Stadium’s scrimmage preview
While the scrimmage at SoFi was a Rams segment, I still thought it was a good preview of what Chargers’ games will look like in 2020. Plus, it wasn’t as dumb as other Hard Knocks’ Rams segments such as Jared Goff playing golf or Jalen Ramsey buying a house.
The scoreboard is absolutely enormous. We already knew that, but it’s still really startling to look up and see that thing. Sean McVay, Aaron Donald, and Goff all seemed bewildered by how awesome the setup looked in general.
Goff mentioned specifically that he felt “faster” on the new turf. While that may not mean much for the Rams, it could for the Chargers. For the last three years, the Bolts did play at a soccer stadium.
Being that it was a soccer/football (futbol/football, for you international) stadium, the grass turf was always a little bit different. I wonder if running around on newly placed, football-specific turf will have the Chargers looking a bit quicker.
The elephant in the rather large stadium will be the absence of fans. Both Los Angeles teams announced that there will be no fans allowed at the stadium until further notice yesterday. Hopefully, the NFL can find ways like the NBA has to keep as similar of an experience as possible with virtual fans or some crowd noise from real fans at home.
The Chargers will have their first scrimmage at SoFi Stadium tomorrow. We’ll likely see that on Hard Knocks next week.