No other team was as busy as the Los Angeles Rams were during the 2018 off-season. Running back Todd Gurley II and company looked like the team with the brightest future last year and the front office ensured their future would be bright with their latest acquisitions. The marquee acquisitions of Marcus Peters, Brandin Cooks, Aqib Talib and Ndamukong Suh have Rams fans excited for the season to begin. But before the Rams can think deep postseason run, they will have battle their way through a tough NFC conference.
Last Word on Pro Football is analyzing the schedules of all 32 NFL teams. Each team’s 16-game slate will be split into its’ most difficult (1-8) and easiest games (9-16). This article will break down the Rams toughest games of the 2018 season.
Los Angeles Rams Toughest Games in 2018
1. Week Nine: at New Orleans Saints
Few teams around the NFL have as scary as a home field advantage as the New Orleans Saints. The Mercedes-Benz Superdome gets loud thanks to thousands of passionate Saints fans and with Drew Brees‘ ability to carve a defensive secondary up, it can quickly become a nightmare for visiting teams. The Rams will travel to New Orleans after playing the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers the previous two weeks. Their endurance and discipline will most certainly be tested during that three-game stretch.
Defensive coordinator Wade Philips will have his hands full trying to gameplan for Brees’ aerial attack along with the running back tandem of Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara. Both the Rams front-seven and secondary will be tested come week nine as the Saints finished 2017 in the top five in rushing and passing yards per game. The Saints also improved their defense this off-season meaning quarterback Jared Goff will have to remain poised and cool under pressure in order to lead the Rams offense to victory.
2. Week 15: vs Philadelphia Eagles
In 2017, the Rams hosted the Philadelphia Eagles during week 14 which turned out to be one the most entertaining back-and-forth games of the season. The two teams agreed to face each other again and with the Eagles coming off of their Super Bowl victory, the game already has the feeling that this could be a preview of the NFC Championship.
It’s worth noting that while there are a lot of Rams fans in Los Angeles, a lot of them don’t show up to the Coliseum on Sundays. This acts as almost as a home-field disadvantage for the Rams, who went 3-4 last season in Los Angeles. If you factor in Eagles players like Carson Wentz, Zach Ertz, Jay Ajayi, Fletcher Cox and Malcolm Jenkins, you know nothing will be easy for the Rams on either side of the ball. Coaches love to say “We take it one game at a time,” but without a doubt head coach Sean McVay has their Week 15 matchup with the Eagles circled and highlighted on their calendar.
3. Week Four: vs Minnesota Vikings
The Rams had a very stout defense last year, particularly in the fourth quarter. However, the one quarterback they faced last year who had plenty of success in the fourth quarter against them was Kirk Cousins. He was a member of the Washington Redskins in 2017 and led his offense down the field on a last-minute drive to give his team the victory in the final seconds. Cousins is now a member of the Minnesota Vikings and has a new arsenal of weapons to work with on offense. The likes of Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen, Kyle Rudolph and Dalvin Cook is a far more dangerous group than any group of players Cousins had in Washington. We could see the quarterback elevate his play this year which could spell trouble for the Rams defense.
This game will also be tough because it will be played on a Thursday night, which means the short rest could keep players with small injuries from the prior Sunday out of the game. The Rams play the Los Angeles Chargers in Week Three which could be a fairly physical game because of the Chargers talented run game and pass rush. Any Rams player who was to enter concussion protocol or have a mild injury on Sunday might not be cleared to play for Thursday, leaving the Rams shorthanded to face the Vikings.
4. Week Seven: at San Francisco 49ers
With the decline of the Seattle Seahawks, many football fans think the Rams should win the NFC West with ease. But, their rival from the Bay Area, the San Francisco 49ers, may have something to say about that. The 49ers are a team on the rise after trading for Jimmy Garoppolo last season and winning their final five games of the season when he was starting. They added some weapons for their new quarterback this off-season such as Jerick McKinnon and added protection up front with the addition of rookie Mike McGlinchey. Kyle Shanahan and McVay both know each other very well from their days together in Washington and both coaches will come up with gameplans to slow down the other’s offense.
5. Week Eight: vs Green Bay Packers
As for much of the past decade, the Green Bay Packers have been one of the more dominant teams in the NFC thanks to quarterback Aaron Rodgers. When he is healthy, he plays as well as any quarterback in the NFL. Last season, Rodgers was injured and the Packers struggled eventually missing the playoffs. This off-season, the Packers surrounded Rodgers with younger and more explosive weapons such as tight end Jimmy Graham and rookies J’Mon Moore, Marquez Valdez-Scantling and Equanimeous St. Brown.
The Packers got a whole lot better in the secondary as well. The team selected Lousiville cornerback Jaire Alexander and Iowa cornerback Josh Jackson in the draft and signed veteran Tramon Williams in free agency. If the offensive line can keep Rodgers healthy through week 8, the Rams are in for a tough battle against one of the greatest quarterbacks to play the game.
6. Week 11: vs Kansas City Chiefs
The Rams have a matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night just before their week 12 bye. Byes this late in the season can put teams at a disadvantage as the Rams will have to play weeks 1-11 without a break and the small nagging injuries will pile up. Despite the departure of Alex Smith and Peters this off-season, the Chiefs still have key players returning to the team this upcoming year. Running back Kareem Hunt will look to build off his 1,782 all-purpose yard rookie campaign, while red zone threat Travis Kelce will look to continue his dominance from the tight end position.
The Chiefs have the potential to be better than they were with Smith starting at quarterback, but that relies on second-year quarterback Patrick Mahomes II. Kansas City traded up in the first round of the 2017 draft to select Mahomes and they let him sit and learn behind Smith for a full season. Mahomes’ arm strength is elite and if his decision making and accuracy are solid, he can be a dangerous quarterback in this league. His skillset only benefits the likes of wide receiver Tyreek Hill and makes the Chiefs offense that much harder to defend for the Rams come week 11.
7. Week Six: at Denver Broncos
Despite the down year for the Denver Broncos last season, playing in Mile High Stadium is never an easy thing to do. Due to the high elevation, opposing teams will tell you Denver is a place no team looks forward to playing in. When the Broncos are a winning competitive team, that makes things only tougher as the fans can make it one of the loudest stadiums to play at.
Chances are the Broncos are going to be a more competitive team this upcoming season. Denver struck out on the Cousins’ sweepstakes this off-season but landed arguably the second, if not, the third best free agent quarterback option in Case Keenum. Keenum had a career year last season in Minnesota finishing with an 11-3 record in 14 starts. He proved capable of getting the ball downfield to Diggs and Thielen and had three fourth quarter drives in 2017.
On the defensive side, the Broncos selected Bradley Chubb in the first round and he will line up on the opposite side of Von Miller, which could be an elite pass rushing tandem in 2018. Denver still has the likes of Chris Harris Jr., Justin Simmons and Bradley Roby in their secondary which should make things tough for Goff on the road.
8. Week Three: vs Los Angeles Chargers
While the real battle for LA might have been the preseason matchup versus the Oakland Raiders, the Rams will host the cross-town Los Angeles Chargers during week three, which will be marketed as the battle for LA. The Chargers and Rams may not be a rivalry yet, but the two will share a stadium in a few seasons and will learn to not like one another. The Chargers have the same narrative almost every season; season-ending injuries in the preseason, special teams/kicker problems and they lose a bunch of tightly contested games. The Chargers finished 9-7 in 2017 but very easily could have been 11-5 if they had a few field goals go their way.
With Philip Rivers, Melvin Gordon and Keenan Allen returning, the Chargers offense should be as good as it has been in the years past. Do not forget about their defense either. The Chargers allowed the third-fewest passing yards per game in 2017 thanks to the pass-rushing tandem of Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram and the secondary play of Casey Hayward and Jahleel Addae. Factor in rookies Derwin James and Uchenna Nwosu and this becomes a very well-rounded team the Rams will have to face come week three.
Be sure to give LWOPF’s analysis of the eight easiest games on the 2018 Rams schedule a read.
