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The St. Louis Rams open the season in the Edward Jones Dome with a division game against the Arizona Cardinals. From there, the Rams schedule gets tougher with dates against the NFC South and the AFC South on the docket this season. Let's take a look at the full schedule in Jeff Fisher's second season as head coach.
Week 1 - vs Arizona
Week 2 - at Atlanta
Week 3 - at Dallas
Week 4 - vs San Francisco (Thursday)
Week 5 - vs Jacksonville
Week 6 - at Houston
Week 7 - at Carolina
Week 8 - vs Seattle (Monday)
Week 9 - vs Tennessee
Week 10 - at Indianapolis
Week 11 - BYE
Week 12 - vs Chicago
Week 13 - at San Francisco
Week 14 - at Arizona
Week 15 - vs New Orleans
Week 16 - vs Tampa Bay
Week 17 - at Seattle
A few thoughts:
That's a tough opening stretch on the road against the Falcons and the Cowboys with a home game against the 49ers to follow. At least Jacksonville is waiting on the other side of that.
TWO PRIME TIME GAMES! The Rams and 49ers get a Thursday night date in Week 4 and then it's the Seahawks in St. Louis for the Monday night game in Week 8.
Late bye weeks tend to be more helpful, but I'm sure you could argue the other way. That could at least be a nice breather for the Rams if they surprise the media and make a run at the playoffs.
Closing the season in Seattle must be a new tradition. I'm fine with it. It sets up a potential matchup with major playoff implications assuming the Rams are in the division race. Fisher's team availed itself quite well out West last year, this would be a great year to exorcise the demons.
Unlike the last two years, there is no month or more of grueling games. The opening stretch mentioned above looks tough, and the last three games of the season could be interesting as well, unless the Buccaneers go belly up, which is possible.
Fisher gets to face his old team, the Titans, on his home turf. You have to like that matchup, and I'm Fisher has it circled on his calendar.
The non-division games I'm looking forward to the most: Week 2 in Atlanta and Week 6 in Houston. Yep, those are tough matchups and I'm sure a lot of people are already penciling in losses for the Rams. I'm not so sure. This figures to be a better team than the one that tied the NFC Champs and beat them the second time around. Those games will be revealing for what kind of team these Rams really are, and I think they will surprise some people.
How about you? What games are you excited about? What looks like the toughest stretch?