Although the general public has had access to who would be on the Los Angeles Rams schedule, we now know the where’s and the when’s for all the games. Let’s take a look at how those things play into their 2024 season.
Los Angeles Rams Schedule Breakdown
- Week 1: At Detroit Lions – Sunday Night Football
- Week 2: At Arizona Cardinals
- Week 3:Â San Francisco 49ers
- Week 4: At Chicago Bears
- Week 5:Â Green Bay Packers
- Week 6:Â BYE
- Week 7:Â Las Vegas Raiders
- Week 8: Minnesota Vikings – Thursday Night Football
- Week 9:Â At Seattle Seahawks
- Week 10: Miami Dolphins – Monday Night Football
- Week 11:Â At New England Patriots
- Week 12: Philadelphia Eagles – Sunday Night Football
- Week 13: At New Orleans Saints
- Week 14:Â Buffalo Bills
- Week 15: At San Francisco 49ers – Thursday Night Football
- Week 16: At New York Jets
- Week 17: Arizona Cardinals
- Week 18: Seattle Seahawks
Into the Fire Week 1
The Rams will jump right into the mix facing off against the Detroit Lions. The Lions narrowly escaped defeat, beating the Rams by one point to advance in the playoffs and sending the Rams packing back to LA with their Cinderella season in tow.
The storylines have only thickened as Detroit welcomed Matthew Stafford back as coldly as the January Michigan weather was that day.
The Rams will start their season on the road at Ford Field and will likely be without Tyler Higbee, whose knee was torn to shreds. This will be the first chance the Rams will be able to show off their new left guard, Jonah Jackson, who is a former Lion.
Early Games With Huge NFC Playoff Implications
Four of the Rams first five games are all against NFC playoff hopefuls; Week 1: Lions, Week 3: San Francisco 49ers, Week 4: At Chicago Bears, and Week 5: Green Bay Packers.
These early games will come heavily into play later on when playoff spots are being finalized. If the Rams don’t get off to a hot start, their playoff fate could be in the hands of other teams, hoping this team will win or that team will lose to earn a berth. Hope is never a great position to be in the NFL.
Rest Advantage Stretch
After that first tough run, they get something of a reprieve. After Week 5 at home against the Packers, the Rams will enjoy a more restful stretch with a bye in Week 6 and limited travel for the next four games.
They will be home in Week 5, a bye, then at home in Weeks 7 (Las Vegas Raiders) and 8 (Minnesota Vikings), followed by a short trip to Seattle for a Thursday night game, then a long week before a Monday Night game against the Miami Dolphins back in LA.
Followed By A Gruelling Travel Schedule
Hopefully, the Rams catch up on rest and recovery. After playing Miami in SoFi, the Rams travel to New England, then back to LA for a Sunday Night game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Back on a plane for Week 13 in New Orleans. Back home for Buffalo, then up to San Francisco in Week 15 for what will be an incredibly important matchup against the 49ers, on a short week no less, on Thursday Night Football. Then back to the East Coast for the New York Jets
The Rams will travel the 6th most miles in the league in 2024; 24,263 miles crossing 24 time zones. A bulk of that will happen in these six weeks.
When facing travel schedules like this, some teams have opted to reduce their travel and find a remote location to cut down on the wear and tear associated with it. The Rams haven’t been one of those teams.
Bye Week Blues
Bye weeks are Goldilock’s problems. Too late, your team has no time to adjust and not enough time for players to heal up properly. Too early, your players have to make the stretch run into the playoffs on limited recovery time.
The Rams fall into the first category with a bye in Week 6. This is not just a problem for the above reasons, but Sean McVay has often used the bye week to make important adjustments to schematics on both sides of the ball. He has never had a bye week this early. In the disastrous 2022 season, theirs came in Week 7.
Last season is a perfect example of how a team can heal and make significant changes at the bye. Heading into the Green Bay game before the bye, Kyren Williams and Stafford were both injured and the running game was anemic. Postbye, both were healthy and McVay juiced the rushing attack. The result? The Rams went seven and one in their last eight games and made the playoffs.