Rams 2011 opponents

Home:
Arizona (5-11 in 2010)
San Francisco (6-10)
Seattle (7-9)
Philadelphia (10-6)
Washington (6-10)
New Orleans (11-5)
Baltimore (12-4)
Cincinnati (4-12)

Away:
Arizona (5-11)
San Francisco (6-10)
Seattle (7-9)
Dallas (6-10)
N.Y. Giants (10-6)
Green Bay (10-6)
Cleveland (5-11)
Pittsburgh (12-4)

A LOT of tough-looking games on that schedule, but thanks to their membership in the NFC West, the Rams' schedule only ranks 26th in difficulty. The Big Dead have the easiest schedule heading into next season, while the NFL's worst team this year, Carolina, gets stuck with the most difficult schedule.

If the league would be kind enough to time it right for me, I'd really like to do a road trip for the Dallas game. I've only taken one road trip as a Rams fan, Tennessee in 1999. I'm way overdue.

I also wonder which, if any, of these games would have prime-time appeal. There's a lot of marquee teams here, but the Rams didn't show they could hang with any marquee teams this year. Crazy guesses: Rams at 49ers on ESPN, with NFL Network maybe grabbing the Steelers or Packers game. A prime-time shutout wouldn't shock me, though.

One last bit of mixed news: the Bengals are the closest team on the Rams' schedule geographically, so there shouldn't be a game in 2011 where the Dome is overrun with the other team's fans. That might make sellouts harder to accomplish, though.

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