No one went into Saturday’s preseason opener expecting Jared Goff to play the entire first half, or even the first quarter, for that matter. However, the fact that he only played eight snaps was a bit surprising, considering he’s entering his first season in Sean McVay’s offense with a relatively new supporting cast around him.

Goff remained on the field for the Rams’ first two drives of the game, which came without a break in-between after Dallas muffed a punt. That helped keep the young quarterback in rhythm, but it’s hard to get into the flow of the game with just eight plays under your belt.

Sean McVay had a simple explanation for taking Goff out of the game after less than five minutes of action, and it had more to do with the offensive line than the quarterback.

“I think because we were mindful of getting some of the veteran offensive lineman out. We wanted to make sure we got Todd some touches but got him out. Wanted to him to play with guys that we anticipate him playing with by the time the regular season rolls around,” McVay said in his press conference. “We’re all a product of our previous experiences. My experience in Washington being with Gruden, that was the plan that we had and it seemed to work out pretty well as far as what you had with those guys that are your starters. That’s why we went about it the way we did tonight.”

Goff is young and inexperienced in McVay’s offense, but it’s hard to blame the head coach for keeping him out of harm’s way. After all, the Rams’ backup offensive line struggled mightily, leading to a few hits on Sean Mannion.

Not having Todd Gurley and his regular receivers out there wouldn’t have helped, either, which is part of the reason for Goff’s limited action. McVay didn’t need to see much from No. 16 to know he’s in a good spot and relatively comfortable with the scheme in place.

“I think the one thing that you feel good about with him is he comes to you during the game and says, ‘I wish I had that first play back,’ where you’re able to kind of let Robert see that throw and get a completion right off the bat,” McVay said. “But those are the kind of expectations that we have for him and we expect him to have that for himself and he does. We know that there are always things that we can do a little bit better, myself included and I think it provides a great opportunity for us to learn and move forward to the Raiders next week.”

McVay said he expects Goff to play into the second quarter on Saturday against the Raiders. In Week 3 of the preseason, Goff and the starters will most likely play the entire first half and “maybe a series into the third quarter.” That’ll be the best look at how he’ll fit in McVay’s offense before the regular season.