Turf Show Times
The Rams playoff fate will be an interesting story to follow all season
The Los Angeles Rams will enter the middle of the season with a conference record of either 2-0, 1-1, or 0-2. Barring any ties, that’s all we will know about L.A.’s conference record, which is a significantly more important stat than how the Rams do against AFC teams.
And the Rams will have completed their entire AFC slate by the end of October. So it will be hard for anyone to gauge just how serious of a threat the Rams are for the NFC’s number one seed — or just their chances of making the playoffs are — until at least December.
Because even if they sweep their first two NFC opponents (the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles and their biggest division rivals, the San Francisco 49ers), a lot can change in during the last 10-game stretch of the season, all NFC opponents.
If we just look at the Rams’ AFC opponents, there is a good chance that L.A. will do very well in the first two months of the season:
Anything could happen that would make the Colts or another team far more dangerous in September than they appear to be right now, but all things being equal this is as good of a draw as any first place NFC team could hope for when the schedule is announced.
The Rams will probably face top pick Cam Ward in his second-ever NFL start for the Titans, while they might draw Anthony Richardson or Daniel Jones in Week 4, and that Colts game is at home. L.A. also gets Houston at home in the opener.
Best case scenario, the Rams would open 3-0 against the AFC (Texans, Titans, Colts), which would means that even if they lose in Philadelphia in Week 3, they will still be 3-1.
The Rams then have a quick turnaround to face the 49ers on Thursday Night Football in Week 5. That game is at home, although SoFi Stadium hasn’t had much of a homefield against against San Francisco yet.
Hypothetically, what if the Rams are 4-1 entering a road game against the Ravens (coming off of 10 days rest) and a Week 7 matchup against the Jaguars? For argument’s sake, say the Rams are 5-2 after seven games.
That would be a really good record!
However, we still wouldn’t know that much about the Rams yet because they would only be 1-1 in the NFC. Other NFC teams might have played 5 or 6 conference games, at least, which would mean that they have a better...
