us & others on losing the Browns game

Five takeaways from Rams’ 19-17 preseason Week 3 loss to Browns: Dresser Winn and Jordan Waters finish strong, Terrance Ferguson’s debut, and more

Stu Jackson

https://www.therams.com/news/five-takeaways-from-rams-19-17-preseason-week-3-loss-to-browns-dresser-winn-and-jordan-waters-finish-strong-terrance-ferguson-s-debut-and-more

CLEVELAND – Despite a 19-17 loss to the Browns on a last-second field goal on Saturday at Huntington Bank Field, there were still plenty of notable moments and observations for the Rams in their preseason finale, between the performances of quarterback Dresser Winn and running back Jordan Waters, Terrance Ferguson’s NFL debut and more.

Here are five takeaways from the contest.

1) Ferguson sees first action of the preseason. The rookie second-round draft pick had been sidelined for a portion of training camp and the preseason with a groin injury before returning to practice earlier this week. He finished with two receptions for 48 yards, though it would’ve been more had a 67-yard touchdown catch not been overturned due to him stepping out of bounds. The Rams’ broadcast mentioned at kickoff that Ferguson was slated to receive around 20 snaps.

2) Reserves on Rams defense get run against a first-team offense for the second-straight week. Similar to the Chargers in Week 2, Browns opened the game with starting quarterback Joe Flacco leading the first team offense, going three-and-out on the first possession before mounting a touchdown-scoring drive on their second possession via a 15-yard pass from Flacco to tight end Harold Fannin Jr. The third and final series of the Flacco-led Cleveland offense ended with a third-down sack of Flacco by Los Angeles inside linebacker Elias Neal.

3) Reserves on Rams offense get run against a first-team offense for the first time this preseason. Likewise, the Rams’ offensive reserves went against a Browns defense early on that was playing the majority of its first-team unit.

4) Dresser Winn starts at quarterback. This year’s preseason finale followed the same script as last year’s: After Stetson Bennett led the offense the first two games, it was Winn’s chance to do so in Week 3. After four-straight empty possessions, Winn completed a 33-yard pass to Ferguson en route to the Rams’ first points, a 1-yard touchdown pass he completed to wide receiver Drake Stoops to cut the Browns’ lead to 10-7 with 1:55 to go in the first half, and later the go-ahead scoring drive capped by running back Jordan Waters’ 2-yard touchdown run with 2:03 remaining. Winn finished 15 of 23 passing for 191 yards and one touchdown, Waters a team-high six carries for 42 yards in addition to the touchdown.

5) Defense notches six sacks, but late penalties costly. One of those six sacks was against Flacco, the other five Shedeur Sanders. However, the unit was penalized three times which helped move the Browns 25 total yards on the final drive of the game.

Shedeur casually taking a 24 yard sack
pic.twitter.com/VT1sMCnYlo

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) August 23, 2025

Word on the game is, when they got to the absolute bottom of the OL pool–and that’s who played in this game–they weren’t any good as a unit.