Rams 2011 schedule

Good grief. The Rams could be a legitimately improved team in 2011 - the NFL schedule-makers seem to agree, granting them two Monday night games - and they could easily hit the halfway mark at 2-6.

The 2011 schedule, game by game:

Sun Sept 11 - Philadelphia, here. I'm glad the Rams got a home game to start the season, not as glad they have to open by chasing Michael Vick around for 60 minutes. This is a team that couldn't handle Troy Smith's mobility last season. Good news, five months to prepare.

Mon Sept 19 - @ NY Giants. Rams' last appearance on Monday Night Football was November 2006. Steve Spagnuolo returns to the upper-New Jersey metropolitan area. Giants were beatable at home last year. Get pressure on Eli, and a little stiffness in run defense will have Brandon Jacobs crying on the sideline in no time.

Sun Sept 25 - Baltimore, here. Oh good, a short week to prepare for the Ravens! That doesn't bode well. Seems best to attack the Ravens D deep - will the Rams have a deep passing game by week 3?

Sun Oct 2 - Washington, here. Thanks to the NFL for 3 home games the first 4 weeks. This one against Washington almost shapes up as a must-win, though, given the expected difficulty of the first 3. Gotta beat a rebuilding Redskin team.

Oct 9 - Bye. Yuck. Rams have been getting their bye week in the middle of the season. Good news, it could lessen the impact of any early-season injuries. Bad news, it's followed by 4 road games in five weeks. Thanx for the easy schedule, NFL!

Sun Oct 16 - @ Green Bay. Could we have another bye week? The Packers are going to have to have a pretty big Super Bowl hangover to be beatable at Lambeau.

Sun Oct 23 - @ Dallas. Potential RamView road trip. Dallas is one of those teams that could be a world-beater by this point, or a team on Andrew Luck's short list.

Sun Oct 30 - New Orleans, here. Rams played a winnable game down there last year, so there's hope. And the schedule difficulty appears to drop off a cliff from here.

Sun Nov 9 - @ Arizona. Of course, this game becomes a must-win. Also, no division games the first SEVEN weeks of the season?

Sun Nov 13 - @ Cleveland. First team to 14 points wins!

Sun Nov 20 - Seattle, here. First of four consecutive division games. NFC West could be decided right here.

Sun Nov 27 - Arizona, here. It is about F@cking time the Rams won a home game against the F@cking Big Dead.

Sun Dec 4 - @ San Francisco. Rams SHOULD have won there last year.

Mon Dec 12 - @ Seattle. If the Rams can knock the Dopily-Spelled Telecom Company Field monkey off their back, you have to like their prospects.

Sun Dec 18 - Cincinnati, here. Very few lay-ups on this schedule, and it looks like this is one the Rams had better convert.

Sat Dec 24 - @ Pittsburgh. So the Rams got short weeks to face the Ravens and the Steelers? I can sure think of a whole lot better ways to spend Christmas Eve, too. Hopefully, the Super Bowl loser jinx has taken deep hold in Pittsburgh by this point.

Sun Jan 1 - San Francisco, here. Could be a division championship game to end the season again this year. Nice to have this one at home should things get that far.

The schedule's fair, but hardly balanced. Not when almost all the division games are played in a 6-week period. Not when the Rams play six of their seven toughest opponents the first seven weeks. I hate the four road games in five weeks after the bye, but they did get to start with three home games in four weeks, and got their home opener in the first two weeks. Also, they (appear to) play no one coming off a bye week, I believe for the second straight year, and get a bye week to prep for Green Bay.

November's a make-or-break month for Spagnuolo as far as I'm concerned, no matter how they do the first two months. If they're playing well, these are all games a team with playoff aspirations has to take. If they're not playing well, losses would just add salt to Rams Nation's wounds, with exponentially-increasing doubt in the organization to follow. A loss to Pat Shurmur would be difficult to swallow. Losses to a Big Dead team that ended 2010 in pitiful fashion, even harder. A loss at home to Seattle could stick a knife in the division race. Big, big games, all four of them.

I think this bears repeating. For the Rams, the season doesn't really even start till November. They could easily hit Halloween with a 1-6 record through little fault of their own. That doesn't mean the season is cooked. Always remember the Rams are in the NFC West. No matter how they play in the first half of the season, the second half is where there's hay to be made. Given this schedule, 7-9 or 8-8 would be a significant improvement over last year's 7-9, and should still be competitive for a playoff spot given the state of the division.

Steve Spagnuolo needs to make sure to (at least) get there, and I believe he will.

-$-