The Los Angeles Rams won’t have an easy time defending their NFC title, especially after seeing their 2019 schedule. It was revealed on Wednesday night and there’s a lot to digest from the 16-game slate.
Once again, they’ll play an international game in London and open on the road, but they close out the season at home.
Here are notes and observations from the Rams’ schedule.
Only one game presents weather concerns
The Rams were often called a warm-weather team in 2018 after the Sunday night debacle against the Bears at frigid Soldier Field. They mostly avoided the cold last season and they’ll do so again in 2019. Only one game presents some potentially cold conditions and that’s Week 10 in Pittsburgh. Even still, that game will be played on Nov. 10 and the average temperature on that date in Pittsburgh is around 50 degrees.
The Rams caught a break by playing in Seattle on Oct. 3, in Cleveland on Sept. 22 and against the Ravens at home. The weather should be fine in Seattle and Cleveland that early in the year, which is beneficial for Jared Goff and the Rams.
Racking up the miles
Playing against the AFC North and NFC South means the Rams will rack up the frequent-flyer miles in 2019. They’ll take road trips to Carolina, Cleveland, Atlanta, London (versus the Bengals) and Pittsburgh. Even going to Dallas isn’t going to be a short trip.
And given the layout of the schedule, there won’t be any opportunities to stay on the East Coast without having to go back to Los Angeles. The Rams will be doing a lot of traveling next season.
Five prime-time games
Casual NFL fans should be used to seeing the Rams on national TV by now, which will continue to be a trend in 2019. They have five prime-time games next season, tied for the most in the NFL. Two of them will be against the Seahawks with the others coming against the Browns, Bears and Ravens.
The Rams performed extremely well in prime-time before the end of last season when they lost to the Bears and Eagles, so they should be ready for the bright lights.
Two tough stretches
There are two stretches of games that look particularly tough: Weeks 1-3 and Weeks 10-12. To start the year, the Rams will go on the road against Carolina, host the Saints, then go to Cleveland for a Sunday night game.
After their Week 9 bye, they’ll go to Pittsburgh, then host the Bears and Ravens in prime time in consecutive weeks. If the Rams can get through those three-game spans at 2-1 or better each time, it’ll go a long way toward them earning a winning record next season.
Favorable finish
As difficult as the start to the Rams’ season is, they have a fairly favorable finish. They’ll take on the Cardinals at home in Week 17, which is about as easy of a final game as the Rams could’ve asked for. Now, they hope that game won’t have any meaning because ideally, they’ll have their playoff seed already locked up. However, if they don’t, facing the Cardinals should be a good way to finish the year.
The Rams play the 49ers on the road in Week 16, which isn’t the easiest matchup, but given the uncertainty surrounding Jimmy Garoppolo and the rest of the roster, they’re far from guaranteed to be a contender in 2019.
Back-to-back road games once
Last season, the Rams had to play three straight road games at one point and another pair of back-to-back away games. Next season, there’s only one time where the Rams are on the road in consecutive games: Week 15 at Dallas and Week 16 at San Francisco.
That’s a nice break for the Rams, especially given how much traveling they’ll be doing otherwise. The rest of the schedule is filled with alternating games at the Coliseum and games on the road.
Five postseason opponents
The Rams will face six teams that made the playoffs last season: Saints, Seahawks, Bears, Ravens, Cowboys. The Steelers were close to making the playoffs, too, and probably should have if not for a late-season collapse.
The Rams were always expected to have a tough schedule filled with playoff teams after winning the NFC West last year, guaranteeing that they’d face at least two other first-place teams.
