Rams tough schedule is no excuse

First off I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend. Personally I loaded a cherry bomb in the pipe the wrong way yesterday (stupid, stupid me), but luckily no one was hurt. Today since I refuse to write anything else about the lockout until it's over, I wanted to compare the Rams schedule to other NFC West teams to judge how tough it is compare to the others. The reason for this is that first and foremost the Rams need to win the division and the best way to see the chances of that is to compare the schedules of the teams in our division.

My thoughts after the jump.

To start with all the NFC West teams will play the NFC East and the AFC North, so the tough games against the Eagles, Ravens, Giants, and Steelers are all common. Other common games are Cowboys, Redskins, Browns, and Bengals. If we look at those eight games the Rams could potentially win 5 or 6, (6 might be stretching it), and as in stands now, I don't see another NFC West team could winning more than 4. We actually have the advantage in these games in my opinion.

Another common factor is in-divison games. Also I believe the Rams have the advantage, simply because we are a better team currently than the Cardinals, the Seahawks, and the 49ers. We should win at least four of our divisional games if not more.

Lastly the only difference in the schedule is the Rams play the Packers and the Saints, two very difficult opponents, the Cardinals play the Panthers and the Vikings, the 49ers play the Bucs and the Lions, and the Seahawks play the Bears and the Falcons. Let's say that with all likelihood the Rams lose both games against the Packers and the Seahawks. The Cards are then likely to pick up one game, by either beating the Panthers or Viks, the 49ers might pick up a game against us, and the Seahawks will have a though time with their two games against the Bears and Falcons.

Now what does that all mean. Well at the most with the differences in the schedule the rest of the division with "easier" games at the most will pick up two games against the Rams. So? The Rams should be able in the common schedule to pick up the games they might lose in the uncommon schedule. I think people have just overreacted to how tough the Rams games are this year, and they are, and forgot that the rest of the division has roughly the same schedule. At the end of next season if the Rams don't win the division it won't be the fault of the schedule maker, it will be the fault of the team.