A tough start, but favorable finish sets Rams up well in 2024 plus other takeaways from….

A tough start, but favorable finish sets Rams up well in 2024 plus other takeaways from the NFL Schedule release

The NFL released its 2024 schedule on Wednesday evening and the Los Angeles Rams shouldn’t have too many complaints. They’ll open on primetime on the road against the Detroit Lions which will be the first of five primetime games. The Rams should have a back-half of the schedule that sets them up for a strong playoff push. Here are my 10 takeaways from the Rams schedule.

1. Week 1 in Detroit is less than preferred opener
Playing in Detroit isn’t going to be an easy task in most week. However, Week 1 is going to be worse than most. It’s hard to find a team with more hype and excitement surrounding them this season. After starving for a playoff run, the Lions hosted a postseason game last year and came one win away from the Super Bowl. The excitement for this season after the draft was also held in Detroit will have been building for seven months. Los Angeles will not only have to play on the road in Detroit, but on primetime and in the home opener for the Lions.

At the same time, Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, and Puka Nacua have had seven months to think about their playoff loss in Detroit in the wild card round. Certainly, they’ll want to avenge that loss. Still, out of all the weeks to play the Lions, Week 1 would have been near the bottom of the list.

2. Rams Just Need to Survive First Five Weeks
The opening five games for the Rams could be brutal. Based on forecasted win totals, the Rams are set to have the seventh-most difficult schedule in the first five weeks of the season. It looks much easier on paper than in reality. The Arizona Cardinals in Week 2 could be a difficult opponent on the road. That team in much improved. The same can be said about the Chicago Bears who could end up being extremely exciting on the offensive side of the ball with Keenan Allen, DJ Moore, and Rome Odunze. In between the Cardinals and Bears is a matchup with the San Francisco 49ers. The Rams will then head into the bye with a team that finished last year hot in the Green Bay Packers.

Of course, it’s within the realm of possibilities that the Rams finish this stretch 5-0 or even 4-1. However, 3-2 or 2-3 seem much more realistic. The big thing here for the Rams will be to not dig themselves an early season hole. If they can hit the bye week at 3-2, the middle of the season is set up nicely.

3. Week 6 Bye is Early, But Rams Have Two ‘Mini-Byes’
When it comes to the bye week, it’s preferred to see that come somewhere in the Week 8-12 range. That’s typically right in the middle of the season and allows teams a good chance to reflect on any midseason changes that might need to happen to make a playoff push. Instead, the Rams get their bye in Week 6 which is the second week of byes this season. It’s worth noting that only two teams are getting a bye in Weeks 7 and 9 with no byes in Week 8.

Despite the early bye week, the Rams will have two “mini-byes”. The Rams will play the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday Night in Week 8 before 10 days of rest and a game against the Seattle Seahawks. Playing the 49ers on a short week is tough in Week 15 after a game against the Bills. However, they will have another 10 days before a matchup against the New York Jets. While a bye week in the middle of the season is preferred, those two ‘mini-byes’ could be a good alternative.

4. Middle of the season looks to be easiest stretch for Rams
Despite a brutal first five games of the season, the middle of the year seems manageable for the Rams. Coming out of the bye, they get arguably the worst team in the NFL in the Las Vegas Raiders before playing the Minnesota Vikings who will be led by a rookie quarterback. After a ‘mini-bye’, the Rams will play the Seattle Seahawks. There’s a tough game against the Miami Dolphins in Week 10, but Week 11 features a road trip to Boston to play the New England Patriots.

Even if the Rams enter the bye week at 2-3, this stretch provides a good chance to recover and set themselves up in the playoff hunt. Even if the Rams end up 4-1 during that stretch, that puts them at 6-4. This is a portion of the schedule that the Rams have to be able to take advantage of going into the final stretch.

5. No International Games, Games on Holidays, or on Special Broadcasts
Thankfully for the Rams, there won’t be any long road trips to Europe this season. While there was some hope that they may end their Thanksgiving drought, the Rams avoided the Lions on Thanksgiving. Prior to the NFL’s schedule release, it was announced that certain games will only be available on Netflix. Between Netflix, Peacock, ESPN+, and the NFL Sunday Ticket package, watching football is getting to be expensive.

For the most part, the Rams have a pretty normal viewing schedule in 2024 which will be good for the fans. There will be no need to sign up for an unnecessary subscription that you don’t care to have. Holidays can also be enjoyed stress free. The Rams will be able to keep a relatively normal routine which they’ll enjoy.

6. Rams Avoid Long Road Trips and Several Teams on Byes
Playing on the west coast, the travel number in miles is always going to be high for the Rams. However, they seemed to do ok this year. They don’t have any brutal road back-to-backs The toughest three game stretch from a travel perspective may be traveling to New England, going back home to play the Eagles, and then flying to New Orleans the following week. However, there won’t long road trips that would require the Rams to consider staying on the east coast for a week.

Additionally, the Rams only play two teams coming off of their bye week compared to four last year. Taking into account the two ‘mini-byes’ and also a game on Monday Night Football, Los Angeles should have more of a rest advantage than they had at certain points last year.

7. Five Primetime Games is Huge Boost From Last Season
The Rams had a down year in 2022, but the tanking talk in 2023 was always a huge exaggeration. That likely was a large reason why the Rams only had two primetime games last season. However, after a return to the postseason and being one of the hotter teams down the stretch, the Rams are back in primetime.

They will start the season on Sunday Night Football against the Lions and will play two Thursday Night games against the Minnesota Vikings and 49ers. Mixed in there is a Monday Night Football game against the Miami Dolphins which will be Jalen Ramsey’s return to SoFi Stadium. Lastly, the Rams will have another Sunday Night game against the Philadelphia Eagles late in the year. If the Rams are good, they’ll have more than enough opportunity to showcase themselves in front of the national audience.

8. Three Games With 10 a.m. PT starts
Throughout Sean McVay’s tenure, the Rams have actually performed well in the 1 p.m. ET, 10 a.m. PT time slot. With that said, it can still be challenging as it’s much earlier in the day than west coast teams are used to playing. All west coast teams will play their home games in the 1:05 PT time slot and outside of once or twice a year, that’s usually when they get scheduled on the road as well.

However, this year the Rams will be in the 10 a.m. PT time slot three times when they travel to play the Patriots, Jets, and Bears. Most teams try to stick to their own “time zone” during the season so it may not have too much of an effect. Still, it is something worth noting.

9. Final Stretch sets up for a strong playoff push
Despite a tough beginning of the season, the Rams have a middle portion of the schedule to put themselves in the hunt and then later in the year they will have the opportunity to put themselves among the NFL’s best. In terms of schedule difficulty for the back-half of the season, the Rams are right in the middle of the pack. If they are contending for top seeds and the division title, they play the Eagles in Week 12 and then the 49ers in Week 15 that could have serious NFC West and playoff implications.